Early United States Currency

Have you ever wondered what it was like to buy and sell things during the early times of our country? The United States dollar has been around since the Continental Congress of the United States authorized the use of it on September 8, 1786. Early currency went through a couple of different stages in the colonial and post-Revolutionary period of history. However, since the United States was originally only thirteen colonies, there were not a lot of coins being minted, causing foreign coins such as the Spanish dollar to be widely circulated throughout the colonies instead. Paper money was sometimes issued by colonial governments in order to ease the continuation of economic activity.

The Continental Congress issued paper money, known as Continental currency, during the Revolution in order to fund the war, but by the end of the war, it became practically worthless due to the government over-printing paper money in order to sustain the demands of the war.  The three types of money that were in the colonies of British America were commodity money, specie, and paper money. Commodity money was to be used when cash was low and things such as tobacco, beaver skins, and wampum were used as money at different times and places.  Even though each colony had its own value of money, they were all denominated in pounds, shillings, and pence, such as in Great Britain. The colonies began to issue their own paper money to act as an easier way to exchange goods and services.

Robert Morris was appointed to be the Superintendent of Finance of the United States following the collapse of Continental currency, and in 1782, he urged the creation of the Bank of North America, known as the first financial institution of the United States.

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