WHITE] ARCHAIC MONETARY TERMS OF 1 THE UNITED STATES 



97 



by the States until it was prohibited by the Constitution of the 

 United States as that instrument was finally ratified and adopted in 

 1789. States, counties, and municipalities have of course continued 

 to issue bonds to meet legitimate indebtedness; but those bills of 

 credit were not bonds of that kind. They were issued in terms of 

 pounds, shillings, and pence for use as a form of paper money, and 

 they actually were for a time a part of the common currency. 

 Being a form of current money, it was necessary to recall them 

 when the Constitution was adopted, and to provide for their payment 

 in money of the then newly established national currency. 



The long War of the Revolution and the consequent depressed 

 condition of trade made it impracticable for any of the States which 



t en vx-p otjn d sl i 



■ m i i i iwii i 



fnzk pafs current 



U POUNDS 



D'V* a Law of theColcwv of 



New-Tori, this Bill shalLj 



for FIVE, 



New-York ' 



'•«3 the Second Day of April, One] 



Thoufand Seven Hundred and Fifty 



[Numb. f// J/O 



cvZ^<2^. 



[iooj.J 



'Til Death to counterfeit this 



FiG. 25.— New York bill of credit for five pounds. 



had issued bills of credit to pay them at their face value. By acts 

 of their legislatures, Massachusetts and other New England States 

 fixed the redemption value of their bills of credit at $3.33 to the 

 pound sterling, making the shilling worth i6 2 A cents. Virginia, by 

 legislative act, fixed the same value upon its bills of credit, and 

 that act affected the Kentuckian and other settlements westward 

 from Virginia, because that State then claimed jurisdiction over 

 them. New York, for its own State limits, and by its influence 

 over, and territorial claims within, the region westward, bordering 

 the Great Lakes, by a similar act fixed the value of its bills of 

 credit at $2.50 to the pound and the shilling at 12 \4 cents. North 

 Carolina fixed the same rate. Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 

 and New Jersey adjusted their bills of credit upon the basis of $2.70 

 to the pound and 13^ cents to the shilling. Georgia and South 

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