WHITE] ARCHAIC MONETARY TERMS OF THE UNITED STATES IOI 



tomarily used in the plural form in the region where they originated, 

 as were the terms ' ' shilling ' ' and " bit " in other regions. The use 

 of those Pennsylvania and New Jersey terms did not extend north- 

 ward, because the people of New York and New England adhered 

 rigidly to their own local terms, but they extended to Delaware, 

 Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. The people of 

 the latter State seem to have practically disregarded the English 

 monetary terms, which necessarily followed the act of their legisla- 

 ture in retiring the bills of credit and which were the same as the 

 New England terms. Therefore, if one should now visit the rural 

 districts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and of the contiguous 

 States southward, or the market places of their cities, he would 

 occasionally hear at least the term "levy" still used. The term 

 "fip," or " fipny bit," seems, however, to have gone entirely out 

 of use in the regions where it originated, and to exist only in the 

 memory of the older people. 



The term "bit" as a partial designation of both the real and 

 medio was evidently first used in the cases just mentioned with its 

 ordinary meaning, equivalent to the word piece ; but among the 

 planters of the Southern States and the pioneers of the great Mis- 

 sissippi Valley it was the only term applied to the Spanish real. 

 There also the terms "sixpence" and "fip" were not applied to 

 the Spanish medio, but the Creole term "picayune" was used in- 

 stead. Those planters and pioneers affected to despise the cent as 

 being a coin of too little value for consideration, and that sentiment 

 is not entirely extinct in those regions where the term " bit " is still 

 used. The American five-cent piece and the Spanish medio were 

 the lowest coins they would consent to use, and they treated the 

 two coins as of equal value, giving both of them the name of 

 oicayune. They gave the name bit also to the American ten-cent 

 piece and for many years treated it as of equal value with the 

 Spanish real. 



That supercilious disregard for small values was taken advantage 

 of by sharp traders. As the volume of coins issued by the United 

 States mint increased, dimes and half-dimes made their appearance 

 more frequently among the Spanish coins of the common currency. 

 Those traders obtained supplies of dimes from the mint at the rate 

 of ten to the dollar and paid them out at the rate of eight to the 

 dollar, because they were accepted in common trade as bits of equal 

 value with the Spanish real; but that enterprise soon came to an 

 end by the necessary recognition of the respective coins at their true 

 value, and the displacement of all Spanish coins from our national 



