On the Greenback Party and its Newly Relevant Ideas: Echoes

In November 1874, the Greenback Party was founded. It briefly rose to prominence in U.S. politics but in less than 15 years was gone, much of its platform co-opted by the Democratic Party. The issues it raised, however -- hard money versus soft money, inflation versus stability -- are with us still.

Like so much in late 19th-century America, the Greenback Party was a product of the Civil War. The extraordinary cost of the conflict had forced the U.S. to abandon the gold standard. The country printed $450 million in fiat money during the war -- called greenbacks after the color of the ink used in the bills.