Supreme Court ok's greenbacks The saga of greenbacks, the paper money first issued during the Civil War, took another turn on March 3, 1884. On this day, the Supreme Court granted Congress the power to authorize greenbacks, regardless of whether or not the nation was engulfed in a war. In the short term, the ruling was a victory for the greenback movement, whose ranks and political influence had swelled during the late 1870s and early 1880s. However, the Court's ruling couldn't stave off the eventual implosion of the movement; though proponents of populist currency kept up their fight against the gold standard, many abandoned their allegiance to greenbacks and instead tabbed silver as their preferred alternative to gold.
