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- Barter was common, and various substitute currencies were used, including foreign coins (such as Spanish pieces of eight); commodity currencies (such as tobacco); and wampum, the clamshell currency of the Native Americans, which was widely used by traders at the frontier.
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Feb 27, 2017 · The colonists were under the control of Great Britain, where the legal tender was both gold and silver, known as a bimetallic system. Yet British coins circulated only rarely in the colonies.
- Sharon Ann Murphy
- English Colonies & Currency
- Problems with Trade
- Currency Acts
- Conclusion
Each of the Thirteen Colonies was its own political entity founded for specific reasons and at different times. Jamestown Colony of Virginia was the first successful English settlement, established in 1607, and followed by Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts in 1620. Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1630, and the other New England Colonies then...
The most common coin in circulation throughout the colonies was the Spanish dollar in the form of coins known as ocho reales (better known as“pieces of eight”) which came to the colonies through trade with the Spanish from their colonies in the West Indies and Mexico. Goods were valued in English pounds but could be purchased with Spanish dollars. ...
In 1690, Massachusetts again tried to resolve the currency problem by printing and issuing fiat money. This was done primarily to pay off the colony’s debts to the crown for military expenses incurred by King William’s War (1688-1697), which was the North American theater of the Nine Year’s War fought between England and France in Europe. The colon...
The economic problems of the colonies and the colonists’ grievances, repeatedly ignored or downplayed by the English government, contributed to the tensions that finally erupted in the American War of Independence in 1775. After the Revolution began that April, the Continental Congress issued their own paper money – fiat money – known as Continenta...
- Joshua J. Mark
Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. John Hull was authorized by the Massachusetts legislature to make the earliest coinage of the colony (the willow, the oak, and the pine tree shilling) in 1652. [1]
Mar 8, 2013 · Once the rebellion began, all of the rebel colonies began issuing paper currency with abandon, in order to pay soldiers, purchase supplies and war materiel. In addition, the Continental Congress authorized the issue of a national currency, known as “Continentals.”
Barter was common, and various substitute currencies were used, including foreign coins (such as Spanish pieces of eight); commodity currencies (such as tobacco); and wampum, the clamshell currency of the Native Americans, which was widely used by traders at the frontier.
The remaining colonies soon followed suit and by the mid-eighteenth century each had developed a sophisticated paper monetary system. Known as bills of credit they were essentially fiat currency rather than notes which could be exchanged for gold and silver.
Nov 13, 2009 · Unstable currency and unstable debts caused a Continental Army veteran, Daniel Shays, to lead a rebellion in western Massachusetts during the winter of 1787.
