sentences:  After Congress imposed a tax on private banknotes in March 1865, federal banknotes would become the dominant form of paper currency in the United States.Many of the bills passed by the 37th and 38th Congress were designed at least in part to pay for the war, but other bills instituted long-term reforms in areas unrelated to revenue.Congress passed the Homestead Act in May 1862, making millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost.