| Show beads Bead made coin of the realm by massachusetts ma order in year 1637 the earliest american money was wampum abr tact t being a string of shells nn an indian wore around his neck when he dresser dressed up the red skins necktie was not merely something which the new england colonist used to trick a native out of some come choice skins the heads beads were actually actu ully recognized in the colonies its as the coln coin of the alie realm A massachusetts chu order in council of 1037 1637 made wampum full legal tender up to a shilling at the rate of six black beads or three white beads to a penny penn y and a connecticut settler was authorized by law to pay taxes tn in wampum up to ton ten pounds sterling in an identical way tobacco was established as the money of virginia rice of south carolina wool of rhode island and rum in many places the value of pach each of this miscellany of trinkets and vegetables was always reckoned in terms of pennies shillings and pounds of the english monetary system the colonists brought along small amounts of metallic money when they came across and as this accumulated it circulated freely among the file people traffic with the spanish colonies brought in some of their coins but trade as a whole was handl handicapped capped because of the lack of an nd adequate equate currency the demand dem and for money was so persistent that flint a mint was set up in new Engin england nd but opposition by the home government soon put astop to that due to the lack of metallic money the colonial governments fell into the practice of printing paper money As there any other circulating medium the paper passed for a time as if it were the real article however since the issuing governments could maintain no adequate reserves for redeeming the notes as they fell due and as the colonies found the device so easy that there was a constant temptation to put out more the notes fell in value when depreciation went so far as to appall the authorities a new set f bills would be put out with the swearing that this ti time m e it would be different and the issue would be confined to what could be redeemed but the promises even when backed by good intentions were ivere never kept at length the english merchants complained that they were having making collections for goods sold and delivered because of the variable currency the english then yielded and sent over a quantity of sliver silver and bronze and put the vol colonies onles on a sound metallic lad ats so it stood when tae bostone ans gave their famous tea party wars are financed in three ways by taxing borrowing or inflating taxation was not available to the american revolutionists because the file precipitating cause of the war the objection of the colonists to taxation borrowing was impossible except to a slight extent with france because the now new country had not established its credit the only feasible means of financing the war there therefore foi e was by inflation by issuing irredeemable paper currency and that Is precisely what was done |
