. A history of the United States of America, its people, and its institutions. ll in enabling the colonies to meetsudden emergencies. The colonies vigorously retained the right of taxingthemselves, and in many cases of paying their own officials,and the attempt of the British government to tax themwithout their consent was the main cause of the Revolu-tionary War. Colonial Coinage.—The people of the colonies, in theirearly days, employed various substitutes for money. Wam-pum (the circulating medium of the Indians) was used,^also furs and cotton cloth. Corn and bullets at timesserved for money
. A history of the United States of America, its people, and its institutions. ll in enabling the colonies to meetsudden emergencies. The colonies vigorously retained the right of taxingthemselves, and in many cases of paying their own officials,and the attempt of the British government to tax themwithout their consent was the main cause of the Revolu-tionary War. Colonial Coinage.—The people of the colonies, in theirearly days, employed various substitutes for money. Wam-pum (the circulating medium of the Indians) was used,^also furs and cotton cloth. Corn and bullets at timesserved for money, and in Virginia tobacco long did the dutyof coin, passing as money according to its market value. ^ The Dutch, finding that the Indians would receive wampum forfurs, made it themseh^es. It was made of sea-shells rubbed smooth,cut into pieces, pierced with holes, and strung. It came to pass asmoney between the whites, and the first church in New Jersey is saidto have been paid for by contributions of wampum, each string beingworth about a dollar. PROGRESS OF FINANCE. 505. Pine-Tree Shilling. A mint was established in Boston in 1652 which issuedsilver coins of several values. These bore various devices,the best known be-ing the Pine-Treeshilling. Marylandin 1659 had shil-Hngs, sixpences, andpennies, coined inEngland by LordBaltimore. In 1722Great Britain issued a coinage for America, the coins being twopence, pence, andhalf-pence. Several of the States issued coins during theRevolution. Revolutionary Finances.—The Continental Congress wasgiven no power to tax the States. The people were had lately come out of an expensive war, carried onby the aid of paper money, which had sunk in value. Con-gress adopted the colonial plan of issuing paper money, butit failed to demand from the States the power of laying taxes to provide for the redemption of this m oney,and the currency soonbegan to sink in value. The first issue was fortwo million dollars, thesecond for one mill
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