“It was he who, at the end of 1861, figured out that the American government simply needed to print money to pay for the Civil War. It was economic heresy then, but without it this country might not have survived. Such an idea was then dismissed by some as “fiat money,” money that is money not because it is backed by gold or silver, but because some government says it is money.”

While that makes Spaulding a hero to some, it may also render him the moral equivalent of Satan to those who object to the trillions of new dollars the government’s printing presses are working so hard to generate. But for our purposes, the most outstanding thing about Spaulding is that his book relating to that period in history is available for free online. Check out the complete and unpithily titled History of the legal tender paper money issued during the great rebellion, being a loan without interest and a national currency at the Internet Archive or Google Books.

And tell ‘em Ben Bernanke sent you…