Republic of Texas Currency: A Documented History 1836 to 1846
Short on time? The essentials
- The Republic of Texas lasted from the ratification of its Constitution in September 1836 to the formal transfer of authority on February 19, 1846, per the Handbook of Texas.
- The 1836 Constitution gave Congress the "power to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coins" and made only gold and silver coins lawful tender. No coins were ever minted by or for the Republic, per the Handbook.
- Metallic money in the Republic meant US coin, Spanish colonial silver, and Mexican silver. No banks operated in Texas during the Republic period.
- The Act of June 12, 1837 authorized 500,000 dollars in 10 percent interest notes. Popularly called "Star Money" for the five-pointed star at the top center of the face.
- December 1837 added 150,000 dollars more in interest notes and 10,000 dollars in low-denomination non-interest "change notes." A printed series was followed by an engraved series in January 1838.
- The Act of January 19, 1839 under President Lamar authorized non-interest promissory notes to bearer, called "redbacks." Net original issues from January 1839 to September 1840 reached 2,780,361 dollars.
- Redbacks first appeared at 37.5 cents on the dollar in specie and sank to about 2 cents on the dollar by the winter of 1841 to 1842. They lost their tax legal-tender power in February 1842.
- The Act of January 19, 1842 under Houston's second term authorized "exchequer bills." Total issued was 150,490 dollars against a 200,000 dollar statutory cap. By 1845 exchequer bills traded at par in many parts of the Republic.
- Grand total of paper money issued by the Republic: 4,095,990 dollars (interest notes 1,165,139, redbacks 2,780,361, exchequer bills 150,490), per the Handbook of Texas.
On this page
- The documented record in one paragraph
- What "currency" meant in 1836 Texas
- Why the Republic printed paper but never struck coins
- Star Money: the 1837 interest-bearing notes
- Change notes and engraved interest notes 1837 to 1838
- Redbacks: the 1839 to 1841 collapse
- Exchequer bills: the 1842 to 1845 recovery
- Private paper: McKinney Williams and Mills' Money
- Value relative to the US dollar over time
- The full ledger of Republic paper money
- What the record does not show
- Where to see original examples today
- Republic of Texas currency FAQ
The documented record in one paragraph
The Handbook of Texas Online, in the entry Money of the Republic of Texas by E. T. Miller, sets out the primary record. Between 1837 and 1842, the Republic authorized three main series of paper money. The first was interest-bearing notes under the Act of June 12, 1837. The second was non-interest redbacks under the Act of January 19, 1839. The third was exchequer bills under the Act of January 19, 1842.
Interest notes totaled 1,165,139 dollars. Redbacks reached 2,780,361 dollars in net original issues. Exchequer bills came to 150,490 dollars. The grand total of Republic paper money was 4,095,990 dollars.
No coin was ever struck. The 1836 Constitution granted Congress the power to coin money, but no implementing law ever funded a mint or contracted a private one. What Texans actually held as metal were US coins, Spanish colonial silver, and Mexican silver. The paper story is where the monetary history of the Republic actually lives.
What "currency" meant in 1836 Texas
The Handbook opens with a plain description of the setting. "To Texans of the period of the republic money meant coins and notes. The media of exchange did not include bank demand deposits, for neither an incorporated nor a private bank operated in Texas during the entire period of the republic."
That single sentence explains a lot. There were no checking accounts. There was no local bank to discount a note or extend a line of credit. Metal money passed hand to hand or sat in a strongbox. Paper money was either government issue, state bank notes brought in from outside, or private "shinplasters" of low denomination.
Metallic money was scarce across the United States in the late 1830s and even scarcer in Texas. The Handbook cites the adverse trade balance: imports exceeded exports, and gold and silver flowed out to pay for goods needed for personal use, production, and defense. The bank Panic of 1837 opened a depression that ran from 1837 until 1845, "practically coterminous with the life of the republic."
State-chartered bank notes were the principal paper money in the United States at the time. In Texas, per the Handbook, the notes of banks from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee were the most commonly found. Small private and municipal notes under one dollar were known popularly as "shinplasters." Before the Republic issued its own paper in the fall of 1837, this mix was the everyday money.
Why the Republic printed paper but never struck coins
The 1836 Constitution copied the coinage clause of the federal document. Congress received the "power to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coins," and the same section provided that "nothing but gold and silver coins shall be made a lawful tender." Congress then legislated that the standard value of gold and silver coins in the Republic should be the same as in the United States.
That was the end of the coinage regime. The Handbook is direct: "no coins were ever minted by, or for, the republic." No implementing act ever funded a mint, contracted for one, or ordered dies. Three practical reasons show up in the same record.
First, there was no domestic bullion supply. Gold and silver were leaving Texas, not accumulating. A mint requires metal to strike, and the Republic had none in reserve.
Second, the government was broke. Sam Houston justified the Act of June 12, 1837 by saying the paper issue was necessary "to avoid the absolute dissolution of the Government." A capital outlay for a mint, dies, and a security operation was not a plausible line item.
Third, the legal tender question was already solved. US coins and foreign coins were accepted by law at US standard value. Paper filled the day-to-day gap that specie could not, at almost no upfront cost to the treasury. Coining Texas metal would have solved a problem the Republic did not really have.
Star Money: the 1837 interest-bearing notes
The Act of June 12, 1837 authorized 500,000 dollars in promissory notes. The first notes appeared in the fall of 1837. They were printed, bore ten percent interest, and were payable twelve months from date. The payee's name was written in on the face, and each note passed to the next holder by endorsement.
Denominations were 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 500 dollars. These printed notes were called "Star Money" because of the small five-pointed star at the center of the upper part of the face of the note. The star is the visual signature that lets collectors and archivists still identify a printed 1837 issue at a glance.
Because of the interest feature, the printed Star Money held its value well. The Handbook reports that 514,500 dollars of these interest notes "circulated at, or nearly at, par in specie" because their investment character gave them steadier acceptance, including in the United States. This was the closest the Republic came to a stable paper currency.
Change notes and engraved interest notes 1837 to 1838
The printed interest notes could not solve the small-denomination problem. Texans still needed money for daily transactions well below the dollar level, and change notes were the tool.
In December 1837 Congress authorized an increase of 150,000 dollars in interest notes and a separate issue of 10,000 dollars in non-interest bearing "change notes" in low denominations. The change notes were redeemable in notes of larger denominations, giving them a formal link back to the interest-bearing series.
The printed series was followed in January 1838 by an engraved series. Engraving allowed finer detail, harder counterfeiting, and a more polished look. The total value of notes issued in 1837 and 1838 reached 1,165,139 dollars, per the Handbook.
Sam Houston's stated principle was that notes should not be issued "to a greater amount than would meet the actual necessities of a circulating medium." For the 514,500 dollars in printed interest notes, this held. For the engraved interest notes that followed, the market disagreed. Their value in specie per dollar dropped from sixty-five cents in May 1838 to forty cents in January 1839.
Redbacks: the 1839 to 1841 collapse
Mirabeau B. Lamar assumed the presidency in December 1838. Under his administration, an act of January 19, 1839 authorized a new type of paper. These were promissory notes payable to bearer and without interest. Contemporaries called them "red backs" for the color of the reverse.
Denominations were 5, 10, 20, 100, and 500 dollars, with change notes of 1, 2, and 3 dollars. The Handbook makes an important structural note: the amount of the change notes was limited to 150,000 dollars, but there was no ceiling on the redbacks themselves other than the amount of appropriations they had to meet. An open-ended issue by a government funding a war with Mexico and an expensive frontier policy did exactly what unlimited government paper tends to do.
From January 1839 to September 1840, after which no further new issues were made, the net amount of original issues of the redbacks was 2,780,361 dollars. The Handbook flags a common source-quotation problem: "A frequently quoted total is $3,552,800, but this figure includes $772,439 of notes redeemed by giving new notes for old." Careful accounts use the net figure.
The market judged the redbacks immediately. They first appeared at thirty-seven and one-half cents on the dollar in specie. They continued to sink. By the winter of 1841 to 1842 they had, in some sections, a market value of only two cents on the dollar. In the fall of 1840 the government began to pay them out at market value, tacitly conceding the collapse. In February 1842 they lost their legal-tender power in the payment of taxes.
Exchequer bills: the 1842 to 1845 recovery
Sam Houston returned to the presidency for a second term. His view of the record so far was blunt. The Handbook quotes him in 1842 calling the counterfeits of state bank notes and notes of failed banks then circulating "no light evils." He asked Congress for a new instrument, and the Act of January 19, 1842 provided for "exchequer bills."
These were treasury notes under a new name. Denominations were 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars, with change notes in denominations of from twelve and one-half cents to three dollars. The exchequer bills were payable to a designated payee or to order. The first issues were printed, and the later ones were engraved.
Congress set a statutory cap of 200,000 dollars on the outstanding amount. Even with the tight cap, the market was skeptical at first, and the bills traded at a discount when first issued. By the summer of 1842 they had sunk to as low as twenty-five cents on the dollar. The public used them almost only for tax payments. In July 1842 they were made receivable for taxes and postage at their market value.
The story turns after that. The Handbook credits three factors for the recovery. First, improving economic conditions. Second, the economical administration of the government. Third, the annexation movement.
Between 1843 and 1844 the bills rose gradually. By 1845 they had reached par in many parts of the Republic. Specie was in sufficient supply that the authorizing law could be repealed. The government later authorized a reissue not to exceed 10,000 dollars. Total exchequer bills issued reached 150,490 dollars.
Private paper: McKinney Williams and Mills' Money
The 1837 laws had prohibited private notes intended to circulate as money and had barred bank notes from payment of import duties or any dues of the Republic. After the collapse of the redbacks was recognized even by the government in 1840, those prohibitions were, per the Handbook, "ignored." Texas needed money. The rules bent to the need.
Two private issues stand out in the record. In 1841 the mercantile firm of McKinney, Williams and Company of Galveston was authorized to issue 30,000 dollars of its own promissory notes as money. This is the rare case of an explicitly sanctioned private circulation during the Republic.
Better known are the "Mills' Money" notes. These were notes of the defunct Northern Bank of Mississippi at Holly Springs. R. and D. G. Mills of Galveston endorsed and reissued them. Circulating hand to hand, they filled a gap that Republic paper could not, without any coin ever being struck to fill it.
Value relative to the US dollar over time
The collapse and partial recovery of Republic paper is easier to see when the dated specie-value quotations from the Handbook are laid side by side. The pattern is a general trajectory from stable printed interest notes, through the sharp fall of the redbacks, into the exchequer-bill recovery of 1843 to 1845.
Two structural forces stand behind this chart. The interest-bearing feature of the Star Money gave holders a reason to hold rather than dump the note, which kept the 514,500 dollars of printed interest issues near par. The absence of a hard ceiling on the redbacks removed the same discipline, and the market repriced the notes downward as issuance grew.
The exchequer-bill recovery was not driven by a technical redesign. Denomination structure and payee-and-order form were only modestly different from the redbacks. What changed was total issuance under a hard 200,000 dollar cap, tighter government spending under Houston's second term, and the growing likelihood that annexation would put a stronger currency behind Texas paper.
| Series | Authorizing act | Denominations (main + change) | Terms | Value in specie at dated moments | Total recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star Money and other interest notes | Act of June 12, 1837, plus December 1837 supplement | 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 dollars for interest notes. Change notes of low denominations authorized December 1837 at 10,000 dollars total. | 10 percent interest, payable 12 months from date. Payee written in, passed by endorsement. Printed series 1837, engraved series January 1838. | Printed interest notes of 514,500 dollars circulated at or near par in specie. Engraved interest notes fell from 65 cents (May 1838) to 40 cents (January 1839). | 1,165,139 dollars issued in 1837 and 1838 combined. |
| Redbacks | Act of January 19, 1839, Lamar administration | 5, 10, 20, 100, 500 dollars, with change notes of 1, 2, 3 dollars. Change-note cap 150,000 dollars; no cap on redbacks except appropriations. | Non-interest promissory notes payable to bearer. Reddish reverse gave them their nickname. | First appeared at 37.5 cents in specie. Sank to about 2 cents on the dollar in some sections by winter 1841 to 1842. Lost tax legal-tender power February 1842. | Net original issues 2,780,361 dollars (January 1839 to September 1840). A frequently quoted 3,552,800 figure includes 772,439 dollars in new-for-old redemptions. |
| Exchequer bills | Act of January 19, 1842, Houston's second term | 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 dollars, with change notes from 12.5 cents to 3 dollars. | Treasury notes under a new name. Payable to a designated payee or to order. First printed, later engraved. Statutory cap 200,000 dollars outstanding. | Sank to as low as 25 cents on the dollar by summer 1842. Rose gradually 1843 to 1844. Reached par in many parts of the Republic by 1845. | 150,490 dollars issued in total. Authorizing law repealed in 1845. Later reissue authorized not to exceed 10,000 dollars. |
Source: Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Money of the Republic of Texas, by E. T. Miller, published 1952 and updated November 1, 1995. Checked August 2026.
The full ledger of Republic paper money
The Handbook closes its accounting section with a summary that is worth quoting in full form. "The total of the exchequer bills issued was 150,490 dollars; that of interest notes was 1,165,139, and that of red backs, 2,780,361. These make a grand total of 4,095,990 in paper money issued by the republic. These notes are entitled to a place among the classic historical examples of 'fiat money.'"
Two observations follow from that ledger. First, the redbacks made up about 68 percent of the total paper money issued by the Republic. Their collapse in specie value is the single biggest event in Republic monetary history.
Second, the exchequer bills represent less than 4 percent of the total. They are also the closest thing to a policy success in the record. They moved from a 25 cents low in summer 1842 to par in many parts of the Republic by 1845.
The Handbook also flags the hardship the paper regime imposed on public workers. "The inflation imposed a particularly great hardship upon officials and employees of the government who received salaries of fixed amounts in the paper money at its face value." A clerk paid 500 dollars a year in redbacks in 1841 might have taken home ten dollars in specie value at winter's worst mark.
What the record does not show
The Handbook's account is thorough for a nine-year state on the frontier, but three important gaps should shape any use of the numbers.
Total private and municipal shinplaster issues are not centrally counted. The Handbook describes them qualitatively as small notes "in denominations usually of less than one dollar," issued by private firms and municipal corporations. No consolidated census exists. Historical estimates rely on surviving specimens in institutional collections rather than a central register.
Survival populations of specific Republic notes are not published as a single institutional figure. Star Money, redback, and exchequer-bill notes appear in the Texas State Library and Archives Commission holdings, the Portal to Texas History digital collections at the University of North Texas, the Bullock Texas State History Museum, and numerous county historical societies. Any aggregate survival count comes from the collector market rather than a formal register.
The split between printed and engraved issuance inside the 1,165,139 dollar interest-note total is not broken out with the same precision as the specie-value quotations. The Handbook is explicit that a printed series was followed by an engraved series in January 1838. It also states that 514,500 dollars of printed interest notes circulated at or near par.
The Handbook does not break the engraved-note issue into a matching subtotal. Careful writers should describe the split qualitatively unless a source finer than the Handbook is being cited.
Where to see original examples today
Three institutions carry most of the surviving primary and archival record. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin holds Republic-era government records and Treasury Department papers tied to the paper issues. Its finding aids describe the documentary side of the story: the acts, the correspondence, and the account books that authorized and tracked the notes.
The Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas Libraries hosts digitized nineteenth-century Texas documents, including newspapers, government publications, and archival images that reference Republic paper money. It is the fastest route for a reader who wants to see period text about the notes without traveling.
The Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin covers Republic-period Texas across its permanent exhibits and interprets the paper-money story in context. County historical museums along the coast and in central Texas often hold locally donated Star Money, redback, or exchequer-bill notes.
The primary academic source remains the Handbook of Texas Online entry Money of the Republic of Texas by E. T. Miller, first published in 1952 and last revised November 1, 1995, itself drawn from Miller's earlier article in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly in January 1949.
Republic of Texas currency FAQ
How many series of paper money did the Republic of Texas issue?
Three main government series. First, the interest-bearing notes authorized by the Act of June 12, 1837, popularly called Star Money, plus an engraved successor series in January 1838. Second, the non-interest redbacks under the Act of January 19, 1839. Third, the exchequer bills under the Act of January 19, 1842. Total paper money issued reached 4,095,990 dollars, per the Handbook of Texas.
What were the denominations of Republic of Texas notes?
Interest notes came in 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 500 dollar denominations. Redbacks came in 5, 10, 20, 100, and 500 dollar denominations with change notes of 1, 2, and 3 dollars. Exchequer bills came in 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollar denominations with change notes from 12.5 cents to 3 dollars, per the Handbook of Texas.
Why are they called "redbacks"?
The nickname came from the reddish reverse of the notes issued under the Act of January 19, 1839. They were non-interest promissory notes payable to bearer, and the color made them immediately recognizable in circulation. They first traded at 37.5 cents on the dollar in specie and fell to about 2 cents on the dollar in some parts of the Republic by the winter of 1841 to 1842.
Why did the Republic issue paper money instead of striking coins?
Three reasons in the record. First, the Republic had no domestic gold or silver reserve to strike. Second, President Houston justified the first note issue in June 1837 by saying it was needed "to avoid the absolute dissolution of the Government." A mint required capital the treasury did not have. Third, US and foreign coins were already legal tender at US standard values, so a Texas mint would have solved a problem that Texas did not really have.
How much paper money did the Republic issue in total?
4,095,990 dollars in total, per the Handbook of Texas. That figure breaks down as 1,165,139 dollars in interest notes issued in 1837 and 1838, 2,780,361 dollars in net original redback issues from January 1839 to September 1840, and 150,490 dollars in exchequer bills under the 1842 act. A frequently quoted redback figure of 3,552,800 dollars is gross; it includes 772,439 dollars of notes redeemed by giving new notes for old.
Did any private paper circulate as money during the Republic?
Yes. In 1841 the mercantile firm of McKinney, Williams and Company of Galveston was authorized to issue 30,000 dollars of its promissory notes as money. "Mills' Money" refers to notes of the defunct Northern Bank of Mississippi at Holly Springs that were endorsed and reissued by R. and D. G. Mills of Galveston. Both circulated during the years the Republic's own paper was under stress, per the Handbook.
Do original Republic of Texas notes still exist?
Yes. Star Money, redback, and exchequer-bill notes survive in institutional collections including the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, the Portal to Texas History digital collections at the University of North Texas, and the Bullock Texas State History Museum. Individual specimens also appear in the numismatic market. Any dealer selling a piece marketed as Republic currency should identify the series, the authorizing act, and the source.
When did the Republic of Texas end?
The US Congress accepted the Texas state constitution on December 29, 1845, the date of Texas's legal entry into the Union. The formal transfer of authority took place at a ceremony in Austin on February 19, 1846. President Anson Jones handed the reins of state government to Governor James Pinckney Henderson, per the Handbook of Texas entry on Annexation.
Sources
- Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Money of the Republic of Texas, by E. T. Miller. Published 1952, updated November 1, 1995. Primary source for the "no coins were ever minted by, or for, the republic" finding, the constitutional coinage clause, the Act of June 12, 1837 and Star Money, the December 1837 change notes, the engraved interest notes of January 1838, the 1,165,139 dollar interest-note total, the 514,500 dollar printed interest circulation at or near par, the 65 cents to 40 cents depreciation of the engraved interest notes, the Act of January 19, 1839 redbacks under Lamar with denominations and 150,000 dollar change-note cap, the 2,780,361 dollar net original redback issue and 3,552,800 dollar frequently quoted gross figure, the 37.5 cents to 2 cents redback collapse, the fall 1840 market-value payment policy, the February 1842 loss of tax legal tender, the Act of January 19, 1842 exchequer bills under Houston's second term, the 200,000 dollar cap and 150,490 dollar total, the summer 1842 25 cents low, the July 1842 taxes and postage rule, the 1845 return to par and repeal, the 4,095,990 dollar grand total, McKinney Williams and Company and Mills' Money private issues, and the "no light evils" and "absolute dissolution of the Government" quotations. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/money-of-the-republic-of-texas. Checked August 2026.
- Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Annexation, by C. T. Neu. Published 1976, updated November 1, 1994. Source for the February 28, 1845 US annexation resolution, the October 1845 popular ratification of the Texas state constitution, the December 29, 1845 US congressional acceptance, and the February 19, 1846 ceremony at which President Anson Jones transferred authority to Governor James Pinckney Henderson. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/annexation. Checked August 2026.
- Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836), by Joe E. Ericson. Source for the drafting of the 1836 Constitution at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos, its adoption by the convention on March 17, 1836, and its ratification by popular vote in September 1836. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/constitution-of-the-republic-of-texas. Checked August 2026.
- E. T. Miller. The Money of the Republic of Texas. Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, January 1949. The original journal article from which the Handbook entry is adapted. Cited by the Handbook bibliography.
- Herbert T. Hoover. Ashbel Smith on Currency and Finance in the Republic of Texas. Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 71, January 1968. Companion source cited by the Handbook bibliography for further reading on Republic finance.
- Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin. Holdings of Republic-era Treasury Department papers, correspondence, and account books relating to the paper-money issues discussed on this page. tsl.texas.gov. Checked August 2026.
- Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas Libraries, Denton. Digital collections of nineteenth-century Texas documents, including references to Republic-era paper currency and government finance. texashistory.unt.edu. Checked August 2026.
- Bullock Texas State History Museum, Austin. Permanent exhibits covering the Republic of Texas period and its monetary history. thestoryoftexas.com. Checked August 2026.