The Currency Act or Paper Bills of Credit Act is one of several

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

of the Parliament of Great Britain that regulated

paper money A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...

issued by the colonies of British America. The Acts sought to protect British merchants and creditors from being paid in

depreciated In accountancy, depreciation is a term that refers to two aspects of the same concept: first, the actual decrease of fair value of an asset, such as the decrease in value of factory equipment each year as it is used and wear, and second, the a ...

colonial currency. The policy created tension between the colonies and Great Britain and was cited as a grievance by colonists early in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. However, the consensus view among modern economic historians and economists is that the debts by colonists to British merchants were not a major cause of the Revolution. In 1995, a random survey of 178 members of the

Economic History Association The Economic History Association (EHA) was founded in 1940 to "encourage and promote teaching, research, and publication on every phase of economic history and to help preserve and administer materials for research in economic history". It publi ...

found that 92% of economists and 74% of historians disagreed with the statement, "The debts owed by colonists to British merchants and other private citizens constituted one of the most powerful causes leading to the Revolution."

Economic climate of the colonies

From their origin, the colonies struggled with the development of an effective medium of exchange for goods and services. After depleting the vast majority of their monetary resources through imports, the first settlers strained to keep money in circulation. They could not find a suitable medium of exchange in which the value did not depreciate. The colonists generally employed three main types of currency. The first was commodity money, using the staple of a given region as a means of exchange. The second was

specie Specie may refer to: * Coins or other metal money in mass circulation * Bullion coins * Hard money (policy) * Commodity money Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects ...

, or gold or silver money. Lastly, paper money (or

fiat money Fiat money (from la, fiat, "let it be done") is a type of currency that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender. Throughout history, fiat money was sometim ...

), issued in the form of a bill of exchange or a banknote, mortgaged on the value of the land that an individual owned.Finkelstein, 39. Each year, the supply of specie in the colonies decreased due to international factors. The dearth of specie rendered it ineffective as a means of exchange for day-to-day purchases. Colonists frequently adopted a barter system to acquire the goods and services they required. Essentially, this method proved to be ineffective and a commodity system was adopted in its place. Tobacco was used as a monetary substitute in Virginia as early as 1619. A major shortcoming of this system was that the quality of the substitutes was inconsistent. The poorer qualities ended up in circulation while the finer qualities were inevitably exported. This commodity system became increasingly ineffective as colonial debts increased. In 1690, Massachusetts became the first colony to issue paper currency. This currency was employed as a means to finance its share of the debt from

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand All ...

. Other colonies quickly followed suit, and by 1715 ten of the thirteen had resorted to the issuance of paper currency. Economist Stanley Finkelstein highlights the advantage of paper currency, "that unless it is backed by specie it is cost-free currency". The paper currency depreciated quickly because the colonies printed more than what was taxed out of circulation. By 1740, Rhode Island bills of exchange were only four percent of face value and those of Massachusetts was eleven percent. The money supply was growing at a much faster rate than that of the overall colonial economy, which led to

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...

and the corresponding reduction in purchasing power per unit of money. British merchants were forced to accept this depreciated currency as a repayment of debts. This led to the Currency Act of 1751.

Act of 1751

The first Act, the Currency Act 1751 ( 24 Geo. II c. 53), restricted the issue of paper money and the establishment of new public banks by the colonies of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. These colonies had issued paper

known as "

bills of credit Bills of credit are documents similar to banknotes issued by a government that represent a government's indebtedness to the holder. They are typically designed to circulate as currency or currency substitutes. Bills of credit are mentioned in Art ...

" to help pay for military expenses during the

French and Indian Wars The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title ''French and Indian War'' in the singular is used in the U ...

. Because more paper money was issued than what was taxed out of circulation, the currency

in relation to the British

pound sterling Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and ...

. The resultant

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

was harmful to merchants in Great Britain, who were forced to accept the depreciated currency from colonists for payment of debts. The Act limited the future issue of bills of credit to certain circumstances. It allowed the existing bills to be used as legal tender for public debts (i.e. paying taxes), but did not allow their use for private debts (e.g. for paying merchants).

Act of 1764

The Currency Act 1764 ( 4 Geo. III c. 34) extended the 1751 Act to all of the British colonies of North America. Unlike the earlier Act, this statute did not prohibit the colonies from issuing paper money, but it did forbid them from designating future currency issues as legal tender for public and private debts. This tight money policy created financial difficulties in the colonies, where gold and silver were in short supply.

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, a colonial agent in London, lobbied for repeal of the Act over the next several years, as did other agents. The act arose when Virginia farmers continued to import during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. Virginia issued £250,000 in bills of credit to finance both public and private debts. This legislation differed from the 1751 act in that it prohibited the colonists from designating paper currency for use as payment for any debts, public or private. Parliament did not, however, prohibit the colonists from issuing paper money. The Act was put into place as a hedge against risks associated with economic fluctuations and uncertainty. The colonial government of the

Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...

insisted that the Currency Act prevented it from providing funds for British troops in compliance with the

Quartering Act The Quartering Acts were two or more Acts of British Parliament requiring local governments of Britain's North American colonies to provide the British soldiers with housing and food. Each of the Quartering Acts was an amendment to the Mutiny A ...

. As a result, in 1770, Parliament gave permission ( 10 Geo. Ill c. 35) for New York to issue £120,000 in paper currency for public but not private debts. Parliament extended these concessions to the other colonies in 1773 ( 13 Geo. III c. 57) by amending the Currency Act 1764, permitting the colonies to issue paper currency as legal tender for public debts.Allen, 98. According to historian

Jack Sosin Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

, the British government had made its point:

Legacy

Currency Acts created tension between the colonies and the mother country, and were a contributing factor in the coming of the

. In all of the colonies except

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, the Acts were considered to be a "major grievance". When the First Continental Congress met in 1774, it issued a Declaration of Rights, which outlined colonial objections to certain Acts of Parliament. Congress called on Parliament to repeal the Currency Act of 1764, one of seven Acts labeled "subversive of American rights". However, according to historians

Jack Greene Jack Henry Greene (January 7, 1930 – March 14, 2013) was an American country musician. Nicknamed the "Jolly Greene Giant" due to his height and deep voice, Greene was a long time member of the Grand Ole Opry. A three-time Grammy Award nomin ...

and

Richard Jellison Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

, the currency debate was no longer really a "live issue" in 1774, due to the 1773 amendment of the Act. The controversy's most important impact was psychological, in that it helped convince many colonists that Parliament did not understand or care about their problems. Colonial leaders came to believe that they, rather than Parliament, were better suited to legislate for the colonies.Greene and Jellison, 518.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *Finkelstein, Stanley S. "The Currency Act of 1764: A Quantitative Reappraisal." ''The American Economist'' 12.2 (1968): 38–47. *Greene, Jack P. and Richard M. Jellison. "The Currency Act of 1764 in Imperial-Colonial Relations, 1764–1776". ''The William and Mary Quarterly'', Third Series, Vol. 18, No. 4 (October 1961), 485–518. *Morgan, David. ''The Devious Dr. Franklin, Colonial Agent: Benjamin Franklin's Years in London''. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1999. *Reid, John Phillip. ''Constitutional History of the American Revolution, III: The Authority to Legislate''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991. . *Sosin, Jack M. "Imperial Regulation of Colonial Paper Money, 1764–1773". ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'', Volume 88, Number 2 (April 1964), 174–98. *Walton, Gary M., and Hugh Rockoff. ''History of the American Economy''. 11th ed. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning, 2010. *Ward, Harry M. "Review: Money and Politics in America, 1755–1775: A Study in the Currency Act of 1764 and the Political Economy of Revolution." ''The Journal of Southern History'' 40.3 (1974): 460–462. ;Further reading *Brock, Leslie V. ''The currency of the American colonies, 1700–1764: a study in colonial finance and imperial relations.'' Dissertations in American economic history. New York: Arno Press, 1975. . *Ernst, Joseph Albert. ''Money and politics in America, 1755–1775; a study in the Currency act of 1764 and the political economy of revolution''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1973. .

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