Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-11-03
money, and the provinces did the same to large

money, anu tue pIO'ihOSo uiu ehS S"1iS W I" u" &c
amount
In l775. Congress issued bills of credit to the
amount of $4,000, 900; and to force their circula-
ton, and prevent their return for redemption, it
made them, by resolution, a lawful tender. and
declared a refusal to receive them extnguish-
ment of the debt !or which they were offered for
payment. This was a sort of forced loan, and
Congress declared, January IL, l776, that "who-
ever should refuse to receive in payment Cont
mental bills, should be declared and teated as en-
emies TO their country, and be precuded from in
tercourse with its inhabitants"
"Unt the amount (says Mr.. Jefferson) ex-
ceeded S9,000,000, the bills passed at their
nominal value, after which the depreciation
great"
This Continental money formed almost the EN-
tire circulating medium of the country during the
Revolution, and accounts were kept in it, but the
specie value was also generally entered as fol-
lows:
"1779, June 5-To cash paid Reuben Dean for
a screw for State seal, Contl E9, law'ls go los
4d"-which is as eleven to one August 80, l775,
the Provincial Congress of New York ordered an
emission Of bills TO the amount of E45, 900, in
sums from ten TO half dollar; and March .,
l776, they ordered Sl37 900 more August l3,
l7T6, they again resolved to issue bills of credit
foI $500 900, in sums fIom one shilling to ten dol
lars.
In the same Congress, May %, l776. it was re-
solved that Thomas Harriet had violated the
resolutions of Congress in refusing to receive
Continental bills in payment, and that he be held
up TO the public as an enemy to his country. 1t
seems he was afterwards imprisoned for the like
offense. January IA, l77T, the Continental Con-
gress declared that bills of credit issued by their
authority, ought TO pass current IN all payments,
&c. and they recommended the State Legisla-
lures to make them a lawful tender; that refusal
to receive them should work forfeiture of the
debt, and that persons so conducting ought to be
declared enemies to the liberties of the United
States
The Hon. John Sloss Hobart reported to the
Provincial Congress of New York, that the bills
issued by them, then in circulation and not on in
terest amounted, August 2, Ill., to e. ,O60, ITO,
or 81, $50 275
In 1850 they were worth only one-half and
continued to fall until $500 and even more Of
these bills were required to buy pound of tea,
and 81 900 to paw for pair of boots. The next
year Q7Sl) they entirely stopped, except at one
hundred for one, under the funded system estab-
lished by the National Government.
Out OF several hundred millions issued by the
Continental and the different Provincial Con-
crosses, probably more than four hundred mil
liOns are still held by public bodies and by indi-
viduals. which are entirely worthless except as
mabtefS OF CURIOSITY his Is TIE InOTt W Ut Tt-
GREETED, inasmuch as the loss fell the oftenest
the worn out soldier and the honest patriot.
General Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the
Treasury, on January 9, 1890, made a long and
able report to Congress on the subject of preserv-
ing the public credit in which he advocated the
redemption of these Continental bills, and affirm
ed that the public credit "A matter of the high
est importance to the honor and prosperity OF the
United States, which could only he supported by
good faith and a punctual performance of con-
tracts "The debt of the United States, >" he says,
"was the price of liberty: the faith of America
has been repeatedly pledged for it, and with sol
emnities that gave peculiar force to the obliga
tiOn. To justify and preserve public confidence;
to promote the increasing responsibility of the
American name; to answer the calls of Justice;
to sustain landed property to Its true value; to
furnish new resources both to agriculture and
commerce; to cement more closely the Union of
States; to add TO their security against foreign
attack; to establish public order OH the basis of
upright and liberal policy--are the great and
valuable ends to be secured by proper and ade-
quate provision for the support of public credit
The nature of the contract upon the face OF the
bill is that the public will pay to the holder the
sum therein expressed, and it was from this cir
cumstance that the bills were ever received or
circulated as money" His advice was not heed
ed About $50, 900 600 was paid to the different
States, to refund expenses incurred by them du-
ring the Revolution; and S40O, 900 000 of Cont
mental currency remains unredeemed to this day
The great excuse for non redemption was the
extensive cOunterfeiting of them during the few
wears of their issue