# United States Notes (currency)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-notes-currency/659286>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 25, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-notes-currency/659286 "2013-05-25T02:20:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-notes-currency/659286/1 "2013-05-25T02:20:25Z")

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1. Are they still issued? If so, in what denominations? And how many of each?

2. If not, can they be issued/If so, can more be issued, in the absence of specific Cpmgressional authorization?

3. Am I correct in understanding that they are specifically exempted from the definition of the national debt? Explain.

4. Besides Federal Reserve and United States Notes, and the small quantities of Silver and Gold Certificates still outstanding (presumabl in the hands of collectors), are there any other categories of U.S. paper money still considered legal tender? If so, what?

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-notes-currency/659286/2 "2013-05-25T02:33:00Z")

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From the [United States Note](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Note) wiki page:

> [@](#):
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> Existing United States Notes remain valid currency in the United States. However, since no United States Notes have been issued since January 1971, they are vanishingly rare in circulation.

Also

> [@](#):
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> Soon after private ownership of gold was banned in 1933, all of the remaining types of circulating currency, silver certificates, Federal Reserve Notes, and United States Notes, were redeemable by individuals only for silver. Eventually, even silver redemption stopped in 1965-68, during a time in which all U.S. currency (both coins and paper currency) was changed to fiat currency. At this point for the general public, there was little to distinguish United States Notes from Federal Reserve Notes. As a result, the public circulation of United States Notes, which was then mainly in the form of $5 bills, was replaced with $5 Federal Reserve Notes, and the stock of United States Notes was mostly converted into $100 bills, which spent most of their time in bank vaults. No more United States Notes were put into circulation after January 21, 1971.[24] In September 1994 the Riegle Improvement Act released the Treasury from its long-standing obligation to keep the notes in circulation and finally, in 1996, the Treasury announced that its stock of $100 United States Notes had been destroyed.[25]