Document of the Week - Library of Congess Edition

Today, when we associate Abraham Lincoln with money, we usually think of the five dollar bill. This bill was issued by the Merchant's Bank of Trenton (in New Jersey) and is dated November 20th, 1861. It is assumed that, for a time, this bill was thought to be the first piece of currency with President Lincolns depiction on it. It does appear that this assumption is incorrect. There is a manuscript that goes with this bill which has a hand written note at its bottom saying that an earlier bill, that dates August 10, 1861, had been found. Nevertheless, this is still an important piece of currency. This bill can currently be found in The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana at the Library of Congress.

If you would like to see the source for this document its link is below:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/lprbscsm.scsm0275/