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History
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The Audacious Clerk Who Put His Own Face on Money and Changed U.S. Law Forever
In 1866, when Congress authorized a 5¢ bill honoring explorer 'Clark,' Treasury official Spencer Clark seized the ambiguity and put his own portrait on the currency. The resulting outrage led to a permanent ban on depicting any living person on U.S. money, a law that stands today.
In the chaotic aftermath of the American Civil War, the United States faced a peculiar problem: a nationwide shortage of coins. Citizens, wary of economic instability, were hoarding gold and silver, leaving a void in everyday transactions. To fill the gap, the government issued paper notes in denominations less than a dollar, known as “fractional currency.” This emergency money became the canvas for one of the most audacious acts of bureaucratic vanity in American history.
A Convenient Ambiguity
By 1866, the Treasury Department was designing its fifth series of fractional notes. For the new five-cent bill, Congress intended to honor a figure of national importance: William Clark, the famed explorer of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The legislation they passed, however, contained a critical oversight. It simply stipulated that the portrait on the note should be of “Clark,” without specifying a first name.
This ambiguity was not lost on Spencer M. Clark, the Superintendent of the National Currency Bureau. As the man in charge of producing the nation's currency, Clark was well-positioned to interpret the law. And interpret it he did—in the most self-serving way imaginable. Instead of commissioning a portrait of the celebrated explorer, Spencer Clark arranged for his own likeness to be engraved on the printing plate.
Congressional Fury and a Lasting Law
When the new five-cent notes began to circulate, members of Congress were apoplectic. They had intended to honor a national hero and instead found the face of a relatively unknown bureaucrat staring back at them from the nation’s money. The move was seen as an incredible act of hubris.
On the floor of the House of Representatives, Pennsylvania Congressman Russell Thayer publicly lambasted the decision, directing his outrage toward the Secretary of the Treasury:
“I ask him [the Secretary of the Treasury]…by what authority he has placed the head of the present chief of a bureau in this bill? The law of Congress says that the head to be placed on that note shall be the head of ‘Clark.’ Does it mean the head of the present chief of the Currency Bureau? ... I would like to know if the head of every bureau in the Treasury Department is to be placed on the currency of the United States?”
The scandal was immediate. To prevent such a self-aggrandizing act from ever happening again, Congress swiftly passed a law on April 7, 1866. The statute declared that no portrait of any living person could be placed upon any “bonds, securities, notes, fractional or postal currency of the United States.” That law remains in effect to this day, a permanent legislative legacy born from one man's audacity.
The Legacy of Spencer Clark
Despite the uproar, Spencer Clark managed to keep his job for two more years, though his career was later marred by other scandals, including allegations of corruption and employing women for improper purposes. The five-cent notes bearing his face, nicknamed “tombstones” for their somber frame, were eventually replaced. But his brief appearance on American money left a permanent mark, ensuring that U.S. currency would forever be a gallery of the deceased, all thanks to the bureaucrat who couldn't resist a little bit of fame.