PELATIAH WEBSTER AND THE REVOLUTIONARY CURRENCY. 



EARL V. DYE. 



Pelatiah Webster was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1725. He grad- 

 uated from Yale in 1746, studied tlieology, preached for a year, turned to 

 literature for a time and finally in 1755 went into the mercantile business in 

 Philadelphia, in which calling he amassed a fortune. Much of his estate was 

 confiscated by the British army during their occupation of Philadelphia and 

 imprisonment by Lord Howe impaired his health. 



Webster is best known to students of Constitutional History. In Febru- 

 ary 1783 he published a tract of forty-seven pages entitled, "The Political 

 Union and Constitution of the United States of America which is Necessary 

 for Their Preservation and Happiness, humbly offered by a citizen of Phila- 

 delphia." Webster was referred to by James Madison, himself, as the "Father 

 of the American Constitution," an honor which students of the subject today 

 do not accord him. Webster's house in Philadelphia was, however, the gather- 

 ing place for the literary and political leaders of the day among whom were 

 Hamilton, 26 years of age ; Madison, 32 ; and Pinckney, 26. That the trained 

 financier and economist of 57 should have had considerable influence on these 

 younger men, each of whom presented a plan of government to the Constitu- 

 tional Convention, can not well be doubted. 



The list of Webster's articles and tracts on finance and government fill 

 nearly a page in "Dexter's Yale Biographies." 



The first issue of continental paper money was provided for June 22, 1775, 

 five days after Bunker Hill. By December of the next year $25,000,000 had 

 been issued. This was continued until by the end of 1779 $241,553,780 had 

 been issued besides $209,524,176 of state currency. Webster's first discussion 

 of the value of money was published October 5, 1776, fifteen months after the 

 first issue, at which time AVebster did not think depreciation had begun, 

 ascribing the higher prices to increased demand and the disruption of trade. 

 Here at the outset he recognized the operation of two forces which, if they 

 had been considered, would have prevented or greatly modified the evil price 

 regulations of the time. Whether or not depreciation had set in at the time 

 Webster wrote, is even today a matter of dispute ; Bolles agrees with Webster, 

 Summer thinks it began with the first issue, and Bullock says that in the last 

 months of 1776 depreciation was very slight and gradual. 



2lBt Micb. Acad. Sci. Kept., 1919. 



