In 1792, Congress established the first national mint to produce all the coins in the US

The Mint’s first circulating coins were 11,178 copper cents

Congress authorized the first national mint in Philadelphia. The next year, the Mint delivered its first circulating coins, which were bigger than today’s quarters. This article shows more early US currency.

The US has used a wide variety of different currencies between the 1690s and today

From colonial money to national banknotes, people have used all kinds of forms of currency throughout the history of the United States before settling on the dollar bills and quarters that we pay for things with today.

Before the US Mint, people made currency in private mints

Around the year 1652, New England coinage was created at private mints. Historically, private mints were often located in places where governments did not meet the demand for currency. This article dives into the history of private mints, including the ones people can still visit today.

The US dollar is the official currency of the United States and is the most circulated currency around the world

The US dollar was established in 1792 and comes in the form of coins or paper money. It's considered one of (if not the most) stable currencies in the world due to America’s strong and robust economy, as well as its relatively stable government.

During the Civil War, the US government printed paper money for the first time

Those original paper bills were called “greenbacks” or “demand notes.” Since then, paper money has evolved with different designs, names, and values. Today, it is solely issued by the Bureau of Engraving & Printing.

How US currency is issued

Cash in the US is the result of a collaborative process between the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, regional banks, and a little-known agency called the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. From design to issuance, learn the steps in currency production in the US with this smart, aesthetic interactive.

The portrait of George Washington was first placed on the one-dollar bill in 1869

Trace the history of the US dollar from its colonial roots to its adoption as the national currency. The video explores the word's Germanic origins, how the dollar sign evolved from the Spanish peso, and how Washington's portrait came to define US paper currency.

The designs on US coins have changed a lot over the years

From states producing and issuing their own coins after the Revolutionary War, to collectors’ coins in modern times, US coins have had many design changes throughout history. You can learn about the different variations, plus what design elements are added to all US coins today, in an article.

The 6 US Mint locations across the country work together to create America’s coins and more

While the US Mint at Denver makes circulating and collectible coins, the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox stores much of the country's gold. Other locations include the San Francisco Mint, the Philadelphia Mint, the headquarters of the US Mint in Washington, DC, and the West Point Mint.

The US Mint was among the first federal agencies to hire women

In 1795, the US Mint hired two women, named Sarah Waldrake and Rachael Summers, as adjusters. At the time, adjusters weighed blank coins and “adjusted” those weighing too much by filing them down.

The US Mint created a video to show kids how coins are made

The video, made simple for children (or anyone who wants an easy-to-understand 101 video about the process coins go through to get in your wallet), outlines the entire process that a coin goes through in its lifetime, from Congress voting on new coins, to how coins are stamped, to their journey to a Reserve Bank.

The Secret Service was originally formed to combat counterfeiting

By the 1860s, an estimated one-third of US currency in circulation was counterfeit. In 1865, the Secret Service was created specifically to combat the country's serious counterfeiting problem, which had led to widespread financial instability. This was partly due to the lack of federal currency standardization in the country at the time.

Hamilton created the First Bank of the United States

As Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton proposed the First Bank of the United States to stabilize national finances—serving as the government's fiscal agent, managing debt, and expanding credit through a public-private banking model.

The first US stock exchange dates back to the 1790s in Philadelphia

Only two years after that stock exchange in Philadelphia started, the largest stock exchange in the US to date was created: the New York Stock Exchange.

The Articles of Confederation were the first governing documents of the United States

Drafted in 1777 and ratified in 1781, the articles created a weak national government without the ability to tax or regulate commerce. This led to problems for the new nation, necessitating the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

President Trump ordered an end to US production of the penny in 2025

The US will stop producing pennies after more than 233 years in 2026, though they will still be considered legal tender. It takes roughly three cents to produce a single penny, with an annual price tag of nearly $100M.

Minting a coin that can pay off the federal debt has been proposed as a quick fix to rampant borrowing

It’s uncertain how financial markets would react to such a large cash injection. Some economists warn it could trigger massive inflation. Others say the nation needs a clean slate.

The US officially adopted an income tax in 1913

The US first levied income taxes during the Civil War, but modern income taxes became an American fixture in 1913. Two years earlier, Congress passed the 16th Amendment to give the government the right to tax individuals' and businesses' income. The US still technically levies the same federal income tax now as it did then—though it's evolved.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The State of the Union address was first delivered in New York City

The first address took place in New York City in 1790, when President George Washington addressed Congress at Federal Hall—the nation's capital under the Articles of Confederation and the seat of the federal government during the Constitution's first year.

In 1882, American Express began offering money orders to compete with the US Postal Service

Money orders were American Express' first move into financial services. USPS launched its money order service in 1864 as a way for Civil War soldiers to send money back home. Between the 1880s and 1920s, immigration into the United States surged;the American Express money order service gave immigrants a way to send money to family members living in other countries.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

The US lacked a national anthem for the first 8 Olympics

Although songs like “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful” were informal anthems, the country did not have an official national anthem. That changed in 1931, when President Herbert Hoover signed a bill into law designating the song as the national anthem.

US marshals conducted the national census for nearly a century

From 1790 to 1870, US marshals handled the national census, gathering population data from every district. The responsibility was gradually transferred to a separate federal office that would officially become the Census Bureau in 1902.

Since its inception in 1938, Congress has raised the federal minimum wage 22 times

If you want all the details about when and why these rate increases happened check out this resource from the US Department of Labor.

Congress meets and legislates in the US Capitol building

The United States Capitol reflects neoclassical ideals drawn from ancient Greece and Rome. First opened to Congress in 1800 and repeatedly expanded over time, it remains the symbolic and functional home of both The House and The Senate.

The GENIUS Act passed in the US in 2025 was a major milestone for stablecoin regulation

GENIUS stands for the "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins." The GENIUS Act defines payment stablecoins as digital money rather than investments and was the first significant piece of stablecoin legislation in the United States.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.