The Free Banking Era (feb 4, 1837 – feb 4, 1863)

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This was a time when states allowed banks to print their own money without a lot of rules from the federal government. After the big national bank at the time, the Second Bank of the United States, went bust in the late 1830s, and there wasn't a strong central bank. This led to a bunch of different banks across states printing their own money. Each bank had its own notes, and there were like over 1600 banks with more than 10,000 types of money notes! Imagine trying to figure out which money was legit or worth something – it was chaotic! Some banks failed, others were printing too much, and it was kind of a wild time for the economy. This lasted until the government stepped in and passed the National Banking Act in 1863, which started setting up more regulations and a more unified system for banks.

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