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Wampum
Early colonies adopted a native currency, wampum. The currency quickly faded out due to high inflation caused by technology creating a means for a type of %u201Ccounterfeiting.%u201D While some colonies still allowed used use, despite drastic inflation, other would not. Rhode Island did not allow Wampum as payment for taxes as of May, 1662. -
First Colonial coin
In 1652, Massachusetts erected a mint to coin silver. Laws were passed that forbade any but these and British coins to be used as money in the colony, and great efforts were made to prevent any exportation of coins. However, since nearly all manufactured goods coming into the colonies were from England and little to trade besides raw materials, the coinage was nearly all exported by 1748. -
First colonial paper currency
. In 1690 Massachusetts began to print the first paper money in the colonies. The paper money was to pay for debt and soldier%u2019s salaries incurred in the recent war with France and Canada. Massachusetts would occasionally call-in a parcel of land for repayment of these debts, and in 1748 received a large sum of funds from England for repayment of its war efforts. The funds were used to buy back and retire the paper currency from circulation with-in a few years. -
The Currency Act
In 1764 the Parliament of Great Britain enacted the Currency Act. These new laws prohibited the American Colonies from paying their trade deficit to Great Britain in paper currency and forbade them from printing it at all. Colonies disallowed to print paper currency, and with all of it species being sent overseas to pay for its trade deficit, the colonies went into a severe depression. -
Continental Currency
The colonies, with little other choice, in May of 1775 assembled the Continental Congress and authorized the creation of Continental notes referred to as %u201CContinentals.%u201D Counterfeiting was prominent and along with limited acceptance there was drastic depreciation, coining the phrase %u201Cnot worth a Continental.%u201D -
Colonial Currencies
After the production of the first colony specific currency in 1690 by Massachusetts, the rest of the colonies followed suit. These currencies varied wildly, in appearance, value and denomination. The large variety paired with counterfeiting issues and devaluation of many of the fiat currencies made it very difficult to trade between colonies and abroad. -
First Bank of the United States
Proposed by Alexander Hamilton and Chartered by Congress in 1791 sought to resolve the problem arisen from the fiat Continental and establish a sound financial and credit system for its people and nation. -
Coinage Act 1792
Coinage Act of 1972. An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States. Established the %u201Cdollar%u201D and the value of all US currency. Established the first federal builder to build erected under the US Constitution. -
Greenbacks
As the US entered into a Civil War, an Act of Congress in 1861 ordered the first non-interest bearing notes issued by the United States to help fund the war. The Constitutionality of the notes was in question and we referred to as %u201Cforced loans%u201D by some of the opposition. -
National Banking Act 1863
The National Banking Act, passed in February of 1863 was to establish a national currency using a revised version of Alexander Hamilton%u2019s charter of the First Bank of the United States. The Act was to establish a national currency of legal tender based on government issued notes.
