5 Dollars The Bank of the Republic - Rhode Island

The Bank of the Republic operated out of Providence during the mid-1830s boom in Rhode Island banking, a period when the state's loose incorporation laws made chartering a bank considerably easier than in neighboring Massachusetts or Connecticut. Dozens of institutions emerged in this window, many undercapitalized and short-lived. Whether this particular bank survived long enough to redeem its notes at face value is not firmly established in the record.

The printer credit — Jocelyn, Draper, Welsh & Co — reflects an early partnership name used by what would consolidate into the American Bank Note Company in 1858. Notes bearing that transitional imprint are sometimes misattributed to the later firm; the plate was engraved and printed well before the formal merger.