Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label 000 bill

Why there were only four Englishwomen at the first Thanksgiving

At the first Thanksgiving, in November 1621, there were only four European women in attendance.  It’s not that more weren’t invited.   It’s just that there were only four European women around.   All the others died. --> The Mayflower during its Atlantic crossing, fall 1620 (photo not available). The Pilgrims’ first winter at Plymouth was harsh, and they weren’t ready for it.  Only five of the women in the group lived to see the spring.   Most of the men survived, and 22 of the thirty of the children survived, too.  The Mayflower landed on November 16, 1620, right when winter was starting.  The Pilgrims figured it wouldn’t matter so much since they had traveled to a place well south of England, so the winter would probably be milder.  London is as far north as the city of Calgary, but its winters aren’t as cold as Calgary’s because the Gulf Stream current sends warm water and warm air, providing a much gentler climate for it and for western Europe.  This was not unde

Large bills: America's No-Longer-Current Currency

The $500 bill: in circulation until 1969, but still legal tender! Currently, the highest denominated piece of American currency that’s in circulation is the $100 bill.  The bill has gone through a couple of design changes in recent years, but it still has Benjamin Franklin on the front, and Independence Hall on the back.  This is as high as American currency has gone since 1969.  Before then, the United States used to issue larger bills. The next highest denomination was the $500 bill, which featured President William McKinley’s portrait on the front.  (No bills over $100 had pictures on the back—just stylized printings of the denominations written out in words, festooned with curlicues and the like, like you see below.  Older bills of this size that predate the 1930s often did have pictures on the backs.)  These higher denominated bills were as follows: $500 – Pres. William McKinley $1000 – Pres. Grover Cleveland $5000 – Pres. James Madison $10,000 – Sec. o