Absolute money – Money that is said to have intrinsic worth – that is, specie-based currency.

Bimetallist – Advocate of a monetary system based on both a silver and gold standard.

Blackbacks – A popular term used for national bank notes, a form of currency issued by banks belonging to the National Banking System. Unlike the greenbacks, they were printed with black ink.

Crime of '73 – In a long monetary bill in 1873, the silver dollar was demonetized. During the 1880s and 1890s, many monetary reformers claimed that this legal change had been made at the behest of gold conspirators, including top government officials and British financial interests.

Fiat money – Term used by the critics of greenbacks to mean government currency that had no economic worth, but was regarded as money only because it was declared so by government fiat.

Free banking – 1. Banking system in which banks could be organized by general incorporation principles, with no limit as to the number of banks in the system or for the amount of notes issued for the system as a whole. 2. Some financial reformers used the term to signify banking done at cost for the mutual benefit of its members.

Free money – Money at cost – that is, money on which no interest is charged.

Free silver – Policy under which all silver bullion offered to the Treasury would be purchased and coined into dollars.