Why Only Dead People Are on US Banknotes

Spencer M. Clark, a minor government official, pictured on this note, changed US banknote design forever in 1866. In that year, he put his own picture on an official piece of US currency, causing an uproar in Congress.

When the US Government began producing its own currency in 1861, during the Civil War, there were no rules as to whose portrait could appear on a banknote. So, many notes portrayed living people, especially politicians and Civil War military leaders. For example, sitting President Abraham Lincoln and sitting Secretary of the Treasury appeared on notes. One can imagine how jealous this made other politicians, especially in Congress.

At the time, there were also no guidelines in the Treasury for choosing who would appear on a new note. Decisions were kind of done on the fly during the chaos of the Civil War.

Sometimes this decision fell to Spencer Clark, who ran the new Bureau of Engraving and Printing that produced many of the US banknotes. So, it was not all that surprising, that in 1866, he put his own portrait on a new 5-cent Fractional Currency note.

Congressmen were furious when they learned of this, passing a law in 1866 that forbade any living person from appearing on a US banknote. Since then, only portraits of the deceased can be used in US banknote design.