During the US civil war, people used a different kind of legal tender than what we use today. US fractional currency notes were used from 1862 to 1876 to compensate for the shortage of coins. President Lincoln approved the Postage Currency Act.

The first issues looked almost similar to the 5 and 10 cent postage stamps used at the time because the public needed to tear off the notes like stamps. Later, the perforating machine can no longer keep up with the demand so they produced plain sheets and cut them with scissors instead.