Confederate currency: An inflation simulation

Using primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection, this lesson provides a brief simulation of inflation during the Civil War while introducing students to issues faced on the home front.

A lesson plan for grade 8 Social Studies

By Lewis Nelson

Learn more

• Civil War Currency Specimens From the Documenting the American South collection, this page has a selection of Confederate notes to help students visualize what money looked like during the Civil War.
• Introduction: Moneys for the Southern Cause From the Documenting the American South collection, this document talks about the impact Confederate money had on the war effort.

Related pages

• Civil War journals: Integrates creative writing with social studies and enhances knowledge of the effects of the Civil War on people.
• Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate soldier: Students read the account of a private from Charlotte who served in the Civil War and grew tired of only hearing about the war from the perspectives of officers. After reading his experiences as a “man behind the gun” students will write their own point-of-view piece. They also have the opportunity to read other diary accounts from the war available through Documenting the American South.
• Grooming in 1930s North Carolina: Using primary source materials, this lesson plan provides a glimpse into the lives of girls and women from the 1930s and will give students the opportunity to study what was considered attractive for the time, how the Depression affected grooming practices, and the universal concept of healthful living.

Related topics

• Learn more about American history, Civil War, Confederacy, North Carolina, United States, currency, economics, history, inflation, interdisciplinary, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn more about the economic situation in the Confederate States of American during the period 1862-1864.
• learn about economic trends such as inflation and deflation.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

15 minutes a day

Materials/resources

This lesson is designed to last over a series of days. After the first day’s introduction, subsequent activities should take just a few minutes at the start of class.

Technology resources

• Internet Access to Documenting the American South resources
• LCD projector
• Print out several copies (enough for all of the students to have multiple denominations) of the currency of the C.S.A.

Pre-activities

• To introduce the CSA Financial Simulation, create an overhead or display via the Internet and an LCD projector if possible 3 examples of North Carolina/CSA currency.
• Tell students they will be a part of the simulation in which they will be issued $720.20. They will be given the chance to “be patriotic for the new Confederacy, selfishly buy quiz points, or save money for possible hard times.”
• Display the image of an NC 10 cent note printed in 1861. Ask students to consider the following questions: Why was NC printing its own money in 1861? What are possible explanations for the positioning of the hornet’s nest as the main image on the bill? Why would the government issue “change” on paper during wartime? Students could compare this to the colonial problem of specie versus provincial money. What other uses for the metal probably were considered more important during this time?
• Display the CSA $100 note next. Since this note could be turned in only for cash six months after the South won have students consider questions of its potential value over time. For instance, if the note is worth $100 plus 2 cents a day, how much would it have been worth if the south won in 6 months, 1 year, or 4 years? Ask students to also consider the following: How much would it have been worth if the south had lost? What would be possible reasons why a southerner would have bought one of these notes? Why was the government issuing these notes?
• Show the NC $100 bill printed on the back of former New York City bond paper. Ask students to consider the following: Why would the government of the CSA print its currency on used Yankee paper? What does this bill tell you about the southern government during the Civil War? for instance, availability of supplies, ease of counterfeit bills, etc.

Activities

Day 1

Issue each student a page of the NC/CSA currency. Have students cut out their bills and write their initials on the back of each bill. Tell students that they can turn in one $100 note for a homework pass, “as appreciation from Jefferson Davis.” Their two 10 cent bills will buy them bread for a week and they can buy shoes for $15. Other luxuries and necessities will be offered as they become available.

Day 2

Bring in a treat for students that they cannot resist. This could be some type of food, snack, video, alternative activity, etc. Set a minimal price for the item - 10 cents for example.

Day 3

Tell students that it is 1863 and some critics are beginning to complain that this is a “rich man’s war, a poor man’s fight.” They must pay $300 to pay for a substitute or get drafted into the army. This means they will need to take a pop quiz if they do not pay immediately. The quiz is equivalent to military boot camp, so if they take the quiz to join the army they will receive an additional $13 a month.

Day 4

Bring the same or similar treat as Day 2. This time allow students to “buy” access with the understanding that it is 1864, the war has dragged on for 4 long years, and inflation has increased prices for some items 100s of times larger than original. Charge students $10 for the treat.

Day 5

Confiscate all of the darker $100 notes and explain to students that these were counterfeit bills printed in Philadelphia - costing 50 cents total to produce but forging up to $2000! Ask students to consider relative questions such as: how can people identify fake bills? If the CSA printed over 70 types of currency, how could anyone be familiar with them all?

Assessment

Have students read Money Troubles on the Home Front by Neil Fulghum and wrap up the simulation with a discussion or brief writing assignment in which you ask students to consider life on the home front especially in terms of the devaluing of the Confederate currency and increasing prices.

Supplemental information

You may choose to provide excerpts from southern accounts of the Civil War such as Mary Chestnut’s diary or show clips from a film like Cold Mountain that further illustrate the economic difficulties faced on the home front.