134 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II. 



VHRMONT BILLS OF CREDIT. 



FAC SIMILE. 



be called a bank previous to the establish- 

 ment of the state bank in lirOG, the legis- 

 lature had once been obliged to follow the 

 example of Congress and the neighboring 

 states, and of the colonies for near one 

 hundred years previous to the revolution, 

 and resort to the issue of bills of credit. 

 This was in April, 1781, and the objects 

 and purposes of the act authorizing the 

 emission are declared in the preamble to 

 be ' the carrying on of the war, the pay- 

 ment of the state debts and the enlarge- 



ment of the quantity of circulating me- 

 dium.' The bills were to be in equal 

 numbers of the denominations of ' three 

 pounds, forty shillings, twenty shillings, 

 ten shillings, five shillings, two shillings 

 and si.xpence, one shilling and three pence 

 and one shilling, and Matthew Lyon, 

 Edward Harris and Ezra St3fles, were ap- 

 pointed a committee to make a form and 

 device for said bills and superintend the 

 printing.' The following, except the sig- 

 natures, is a/ac simile of one of these bills: 



