1781 dated Connecticut Continental Bill for "Confiscated Estates" signed by John Lawrence - Connecticut - American Revolutionary War

Connecticut Continental Bill for "Confiscated Estates" signed by John Lawrence. After the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, the Continental Congress began issuing paper money known as Continental currency, or Continentals. Continental currency was denominated in dollars from $1?6 to $80, including many odd denominations in between. During the Revolution, Congress issued $241,552,780 in Continental currency.

The Continental Currency dollar was valued relative to the states' currencies at the following rates:

• 5 shillings – Georgia
• 6 shillings – Connecticut , Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia
• 71?2 shillings – Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
• 8 shillings – New York, North Carolina
• 321?2 shillings – South Carolina

Continental currency depreciated badly during the war, giving rise to the famous phrase "not worth a continental". A primary problem was that monetary policy was not coordinated between Congress and the states, which continued to issue bills of credit. "Some think that the rebel bills depreciated because people lost confidence in them or because they were not backed by tangible assets," writes financial historian Robert E. Wright. "Not so. There were simply too many of them." Congress and the states lacked the will or the means to retire the bills from circulation through taxation or the sale of bonds. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_American_currency

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