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20 kwi 2021 · The coinage served its purpose, standardizing currency in Massachusetts as well as providing actual coins for trade with other colonies, but it was considered unlawful by the English government and so could not be used in trade with London.
John Hull was authorized by the Massachusetts legislature to make the earliest coinage of the colony (the willow, the oak, and the pine tree shilling) in 1652. [1] Because few coins were minted in the Thirteen Colonies, which later became the United Colonies and then the United States, foreign coins like the Spanish dollar were widely circulated.
In 1690, Massachusetts solved the problem of how to pay soldiers returning from an ill-fated expedition against the French in Canada by issuing bills of credit, payable at a future date in gold and acceptable as legal tender for payment of taxes.
At first Massachusetts notes were accepted at par with specie, which was predominately the Spanish American silver 8 reales, called a Spanish "dollar" by the colonists. In Massachusetts the Spanish dollar was valued at 6 shillings.
From 1643 to 1660, wampum — the shells prized by local Native American tribes — were legal tender in Massachusetts. This promoted the development of the colony by facilitating trade, but the...
Connecticut followed the example of Massachusetts in redeeming her paper money with coin received from England to reimburse the colony for the latter's expenditures in connection with the Louisburg expedition. Connecticut bought in her paper at the rate of one ounce of silver for 58s 8d of bills (old tenor), or at a rate of 1s silver for 8s 10d ...
3 sty 2022 · How, as a trade-based colony belonging to the world’s greatest maritime empire, did the Massachusetts Bay Colony begin striking the first hard currency in North America?
