THE ARCHAIC MONETARY TERMS OF THE UNITED 



STATES 



By CHARLES A. WHITE 



As was customary with all English colonies, those of North 

 America which became the thirteen original States of the Union 

 adopted and used the monetary system of the mother country until 

 it was superseded by our national decimal system ; therefore all 

 their monetary transactions were expressed and recorded in terms 

 of pounds, shillings, and pence. That custom existed until our 

 present national monetary system was established by Congress, in 

 1 792-' 93, eight years after the close of the War of the Revolution 

 and three years after the final adoption of the Constitution of the 

 United States, in 1789; that is, the people of the United States 

 used the English monetary system not only during the whole of 

 their colonial period, but during sixteen years, or fully one-eighth 

 of their national existence up to the present time (1907), counting 

 from the Declaration of Independence, in 1776. It is therefore not 

 strange that its terms, or modifications of them, should still linger 

 in colloquial speech. It is because some of those terms are now 

 practically obsolete, and those which still survive are now only col- 

 loquially and locally used, that I have decided to make a record of 

 them in accordance with my personal recollections, which began in 

 the fourth decade of the last century, my personal observations in 

 all the principal parts of the United States, and with available 

 historical data. 



The following table exhibits the monetary system of the United 

 States as it was originally established and since modified by adding 

 and eliminating certain coins ; that is, its list of coins includes those 

 which were originally designated by law, those which were after- 

 ward authorized, and those the coinage of which has been discon- 

 tinued. The table is introduced for comparison of its coins with 

 those of the other currencies which formerly have been used by our 

 people. 



From time to time other than the stated coins of the following 

 table have been issued from the United States mints, such as the Trade 

 dollar, souvenir gold and silver coins for the great expositions, etc. ; 

 but those coins bore special legends and, although officially recog- 

 nized as money, they were not established portions of our coinage. 



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