$200 Internal Revenue, the largest First
Issue denomination (R102c)
The first federal adhesive revenue stamps of the U.S. were issued in 1862 by Butler & Carpenter (BC) of Philadelphia. These prepaid taxes on most Civil War-era documents and several proprietary articles, such as matches & medicines. Despite the pressures to issue massive quantities of these stamps quickly, BC engraved beautiful stamps. The company also produced private dies and revenue stamped paper during this period. This is the story of their contributions & tribulations, as well as the actual usages and business practices during this period.
The Civil War brought an explosion of expenditures to Washington and massive tax increases. Continued taxes paid off most of the debt over the next 20 years. The Revenue Act of 1862 created the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the first national income tax, and the first use of adhesive stamps to collect revenue. Schedule B & C of the Act described the use of revenue stamps to prepay taxes on documents (documentaries) and proprietary tax (essentially an excise or sales tax on specified items), respectively.
Butler & Carpenter won the first contract (intially for one year), which required stamps delivered by October 1, 1862 (the first day of the federal fiscal year, when the new tax began). More than 1.5 billion "First Issue" revenue stamps would be delivered over the next decade.
Taxpayers were initially required to match purposes and amounts to specific stamps (although this rule was relaxed by the end of 1862). Thus, the need for 31 values (1¢ to $200), 28 different titles, and 102 different stamps. All First Issues had 1 of 3 George Washington portraits and differed by denomination, size, color, and purpose.
In addition to the First Issue, BC produced private die stamps and revenue stamped paper. John M. Butler died in 1868. The business continued as the Joseph R. Carpenter Co. until 1875, when Carpenter lost the contract to the National Bank Note Co. Carpenter issued new stamps, but these are beyond the scope of this page, which concentrates on the 1862-8 period.
Manufacturers subject to proprietary taxes were allowed to produce their own stamps (they received a "tax discount" and potential advertising--and implicit federal approval for their products). The dies, plates, and reproduction were at the manufacturers' expense, but the dies were controlled by the Treasury. As long as BC held the contract for revenue stamps, they produced all private dies.
The company archives later became available to historians (actually stamp dealers & collectors), allowing their contributions to be analyzed in detail. The artistic and business contributions of the firm are described, as well as the historic significant of the early revenue stamps.
| 1809 | Birth of John Butler in Philadelphia |
| 1828 | Birth of Joseph Carpenter |
| 1860-1 | Political correspondence from John butler to Abe Lincoln; Butler is a Republican candidade for Congress but loses; Lincoln elected president; South Carolina secedes |
| 1861 | Lincoln becomes president; southern state secede, Fort Sumpter bombarded and Civil War begins |
| 1862 | Revenue Act passed (July 1). Bids open and BC awarded the contract (August 6); first revenue stamps issued (Sept. 27); new tax begins (Oct. 1); Internal Revenue allows BC to issue stamps without perforations so stamps can be issued sooner; first medicine private die issued to L.R. Herrick (Nov. 18); on December 25, Internal Revenue eliminates requirement that stamps must match specific use--creating the "obligatory matching use" period from October-December 25, 1862. |
| 1863 | Revenue Act modified |
| 1864 | Philadelphia Sanitary Fair (June); Revenue Act modified |
| 1865 | Civil War ends |
| 1866 | Treasury contract to BC to produce revenue stamped paper |
| 1868 | Death of John Butler (Oct. 20); Carpenter continues to produce stamps |
| 1871 | Carpenter produces 2nd & 3rd issues |
| 1875 | Carpenter looses revenue stamp contract to the National Bank Note Co. |
| 1884 | E.B. Sterling buys BC archives & proofs from Carpenter |
| 1916 | Death of Joseph Carpenter (Nov. 20) |