This ended the long-standing policy of using only gold or silver in transactions, and it allowed the government to finance the enormously costly Civil War long after its gold and silver reserves were depleted.
Soon after the war began, the federal government began to run low on specie（硬币）. The Legal Tender Act allowed the government to print $150 million in paper money that was not backed by gold or silver, but only by the credibility of the U.S. government. The papernotes, called greenbacks, allowed the government to pay its bills and greased the wheels of Northern commerce by increasing the money in circulation.
The Legal Tender Act laid the foundation for the creation of a permanent currency in the decades after the Civil War.
