Dollar (U.S.)
The United States Dollar is the official currency of the United States. It is also widely used as a reserve currency outside of the United States.
Until 1974, the value of the United States dollar was fixed to a value of a fixed amount of a precious metal. Between the late 18th century and the late 19th century, the United States dollar was fixed to the value of either gold or silver in a system known as bimetallism. In the early 1970's, the trade deficit and inflation in the United States, caused a run on the gold reserves used to back the United States dollar. This forced the United States to delink the value of the dollar from a specific amount of gold. Currently, the issuance of currency is controlled by the Federal Reserve Banking system.
The Symbol
One theory states that the dollar symbol $ is a corruption of the monogram of the initials U.S., and is often used in a derogatory fashion. Ayn Rand once said that "Do you know that the United States is the only country in history that has ever used its own monogram as a symbol of depravity? Ask yourself why. Ask yourself how long a country that did that could hope to exist, and whose moral standards have destroyed it." This statement would not be true if we took it to mean that some US citizens used the monogram in a derogatory fashion, since that is, and has been, a common form of protest.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the most widely accepted origin for the dollar sign is that it evolved from P's, being used to represent Spanish or Mexican pesos, piastres, or "pieces of eight", which were common in the English colonies in North America. Over time the S was superimposed upon the P and this created a close approximation to the modern $.[1]
The Design
What differs the US from other nations to allow that kind of statement is our strong national heritage in which an act by one citizen is taken to be one of the whole nation. This is the reason that the Roman fasces often appears on our currency.
There are several symbols which appear on the dollar, and it is often said by the Federal Reserve that they are there to prevent counterfeiting. This may be true, but the symbols contain a great deal of Masonic symbolism[2]. Some modern Christians think this to be an innocuous link to the Masonic lifestyle of the Founding Fathers.
The Dollar Bill
The Dollar Bill currently features George Washington.
Sacagawea Dollars
In 2000, the US Mint began to issue Sacagawea Dollars.
