Abraham Lincoln authorized the creation of the Secret Service whose original purpose was to investigate counterfeit money which accounted for almost half of all US currency. He was shot the same day.

submitted by magnora7 from time.com

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By 1865, up to one-third or even one-half of American money in circulation was fake. This was partly due to an old system of relying on state banks to produce money using approved designs and paper provided by the Federal Government. But though the country adopted a national currency in 1863, federal dollars were as easy to counterfeit as state-produced ones.

But honestly, our dollar is sort of counterfeited and backed by debt. Lincoln was merely trying to centralize power as the whigs desired and the Frankfurt bankers wanted.

If he wanted a real currency, a silver certificate backed by silver in reserves in an indepedent treasury would be a far better option, but did he do that?