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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;phubanks, post: 869333, member: 23286&quot;][FONT=Verdana,Arial]<font size="2"><span style="color: gray">[FONT=Verdana,Arial]<span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black">History ... </span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black"><br /></span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black">On May 10th 1775 -- with the seeds of the&nbsp; Revolutionary war having just been sown with the Boston Massacre, Boston&nbsp; Tea Party, &amp; Battle of Lexington --&nbsp; and with the Declaration of Independence still more than a year away --&nbsp; the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia authorized the issuance&nbsp; of paper money. </span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black"><br /></span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black">At the meeting, Congress authorized 49,000 impressions each for&nbsp; denominations of $1 through $8, and printing began soon after.&nbsp; Later bills with denominations of $20 to $80 were added to the mix. </span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black"><br /></span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black">The money, for &quot;The United Colonies&quot;, was to be used to pay war expenses&nbsp; and was to be redeemed from taxes collected by the colonies.&nbsp; </span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black"><br /></span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black">Unfortunately, the words &quot;payable in Spanish Milled Dollars or Gold&quot; was&nbsp; a promise the fledgling government could not fulfill. Within a few years, the financial abilities of the Continental Congress&nbsp; diminished and the notes became nearly valueless. </span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black"><br /></span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black">Throughout the 1780&#039;s, a few speculators were buying $500 in paper bills&nbsp; for $1 in coin. In August 1790, Congress passed a bill stating that Continental Currency&nbsp; was recievable at the Treasury at the rate of $100 in currency for $1&nbsp; in silver or gold coin, netting a profit of 500% to the speculators.&nbsp; </span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black"><br /></span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black">In 1793, all bills were&nbsp; repudiated, and they could no longer circulate as money.</span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black"><br /></span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><span style="color: Black">Ahh ... the story of unbacked paper money.&nbsp; You would think this country would have learned this lesson!</span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"><br /></span></span></font></p><p><font size="2"><span style="color: gray"><span style="color: #ef7548"></span>[/FONT]</span></font>[/FONT][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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