NCJ Number
157791
Date Published
1995
Length
233 pages
Annotation
This book discusses how the widespread 19th-Century practice of counterfeiting threatened the national economy of the U.S. and the Federal Government's authority to control the flow of currency, and how the creation of the Secret Service during the Civil War comprised a successful law enforcement operation that, over time, virtually eliminated counterfeiting.
Abstract
The suppression of counterfeiting illustrates the point that the Civil War had permanently enhanced the power of the central government in American federalism. The first two chapters examine the social and economic structure of counterfeiting during this period in order to describe the problems faced by the newly established Secret Service. The author analyzes how government officials organized the Secret Service into a bureaucracy that rose above local and party interests to serve the Federal Government. The Secret Service's campaign against counterfeiting penetrated local communities and helped to set national standards in law enforcement.