Boutwell presentation album

George Sewall Boutwell, American, 1818 - 1905 · 1862-1874

A flood of expenditures threatened the Union’s financial viability as the Civil War accelerated. Scrambling to control the situation, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1862, which established the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and initiated the use of adhesive revenue stamps. Revenue stamps prepaid taxes on items such as documents and also applied an excise tax on certain items—matches and medicines, for instance. As the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue, George S. Boutwell sought bids from security printers for the design and production of revenue stamps. Philadelphia-based Butler & Carpenter won the first contract to print the revenue stamps. Though Butler died in 1868, the firm held the contract until 1875. It consistently produced beautifully engraved stamps and private dies.