FROM WAMPUM TO PAPER MONEY
The early settlers of New England had little coinage for circulation
and were driven to the necessity of using the produce of the soil
and the live stock from their pastures as their media of exchange.
Peltry also was one of the first and for many years the principal
article of currency. It was offered in great abundance by the
Indians who were very ready to barter it for beads, knives, hatchets
and blankets and especially for powder, shot, guns and "strong
water."
In most of the Colonies the wampum of the Indians also was
extensively used and frequently was paid into the treasury in
payment of taxes. So, also, were cattle and corn as is shown
by numerous enactments of the Great and General Court of the
Massachusetts Bay. Musket balls were also current and were made
legal tender by order of the Court which decreed "that musket
bullets of a full bore shall pass current for a farthing a piece
provided that no man be compelled to take more than 12 pence at a
time of them." In Virginia, tobacco was used for currency and "from
100 to 150 pounds of it bought many a man a good wife."
The Indian wampum was perhaps the most convenient currency
available. It is described by Roger Williams who, perhaps, had a
better knowledge of it than most of the early colonists. He says:
"It is of two kinds which the Indians make of the stem or the stock
of the periwinkle after all the shell is broken off. [The periwinkle
is a mollusc, more common south of Cape Cod than along the shores
of Massachusetts Bay.] Of this kind, six of the small beads, which
they make with holes to string upon their bracelet, are current
with the English for a penny. The other kind is black, inclined
to a blue shade, which is made of the shell of a fish [that is, a
mollusc] which some of the English call henspoquahoc [now known as
the hen-clam or quahaug] and of this description three are equal to
an English penny. One fathom of this stringed money is worth five
shillings."
To show the intimate relation of this Indian money to our early
history, it appears that even Harvard College accepted it for
tuition fees and otherwise; for in 1641 a trading company, chartered
to deal with the Indians in furs and wampum, was required to relieve
the College of its super-abundance of this odd currency and redeem
it, "provided they were not obliged to take more than £25 of it
at any one time." The thrifty Dutch at New Amsterdam, however,
took advantage of the scarcity of legitimate currency and the
corresponding demand for wampum and established factories where they
made it in such vast quantities that the market was broken and the
value of wampum rapidly decreased.
The great source of metallic currency for New England in those
earliest days was the West India Islands and much silver brought
from there was later coined into "pine tree" shillings and
sixpences. Governor Winthrop, in 1639, tells of a "small bark from
the West Indies, one Capt. Jackson in her, with a commission from
the Westminister Company to take prizes from the Spanish. He brought
much wealth in money, plate, indigo and sugar." But metallic money
became so scarce that by 1640 there was but little in the colonies
and the greatest difficulty existed in making payments for goods or
the wages of servants. In one instance, in Rowley, "the master was
forced to sell a pair of his oxen to pay his servant's wages and so
told the servant he could keep him no longer, not knowing how to pay
him the next year. The servant answered him that he would [continue
to] serve him for more of his cattle. But how shall I do, said the
master, when all my cattle are gone? The servant replied, why, then
you shall serve me and you shall then have your cattle again."
Various attempts were made to establish values to certain coins,
more or less ficticious, but this failed to relieve the situation
and finally, to obtain a more stable basis the Massachusetts
General Court adopted a currency of its own and the "pine tree"
money appeared, shortly preceded by the more rude and more easily
counterfeited New England shillings and sixpences, that bore on
one side the letters "N. E." within a small circle and on the other
side the denomination in Roman numerals. These primitive coins were
made between 1650 and 1652 and were superseded by the true oak and
pine tree pieces after that date. The simple irregular form of the
"N. E." coins rendered them an easy prey to the counterfeiter and
the clipper, and the design of the newer coins, covering the whole
surface of the planchet, was a protection against both dangers. The
"N. E." shilling is now a rare coin and likewise the sixpence, while
the threepence is rarer still, but two or three genuine examples
being known to exist.
There are two distinct forms of the so-called "pine tree" currency,
the one bearing on the obverse a representation of a tree resembling
an oak, or as some say, a willow; the other with the true pine-tree.
It is thought that the ruder pieces bearing the oak tree design
were the first coined and that the more perfect pine tree money
was issued later. At any rate both "oak" and "pine tree" pieces,
shillings, sixpences and threepences, all bear the same date, 1652.
But this money was issued continuously until 1686 without a change
of the date, it is said, to avoid interference from the English
government, the coining of money by the colonists being a distinct
violation of the royal prerogative. By the retention of the original
date it was thought to deceive the authorities at home into the
belief that the violation of the laws ceased as it began, in 1652.
In 1652, however, a two-penny piece was minted bearing the oak tree
design and hence it is natural to suppose that the pieces bearing
the true pine tree design were the last coined and not issued until
after 1662.
One of the traditions connected with the pine or oak tree money
is the story that Sir Thomas Temple, who was a real friend of the
colonists, in 1662, showed some of the pieces to the King at the
council table in London, when King Charles demanded upon what
authority these colonists had coined money anyway and sought to have
orders sent to prohibit any further issues. "But," responded Sir
Thomas, "this tree is the oak which saved your majesty's life and
which your loyal subjects would perpetuate." Sir Thomas of course
referred to the episode of Boscobel in which Charles II escaped
his enemies by hiding in the branches of an oak. This it is said
so pleased the King that he dropped the subject and the coining of
"pine tree" money proceeded merrily, as before, for twenty-five
years longer.
The master of the mint was John Hull who lived in Boston where
Pemberton Square now opens from Tremont Street and where later was
the famous garden and residence of Gardner Green, Esq. The mint
house, sixteen feet square and ten feet high, was built on land
belonging to Hull in the rear of his house. Robert Sanderson, a
friend of Hull, was associated with him in making the "pine tree"
money. It is not known how they divided their profit, but they
received one shilling sixpence for each twenty shillings coined,
and as it is estimated that "pine tree" money to the amount of five
millions of dollars in value was made during the thirty-four years
it was issued, the commissions received must have been very large
and the statement that the dowry, said to have been £30,000, given
to Hull's daughter at her marriage, appears reasonable. That the
girl, plump as she is reported to have been, actually weighed down
the dowry in shillings, is, of course, absurd as that amount in
silver would weigh over 6,000 pounds rating a silver £ as weighing 4
oz. at that time.
Hawthorne's description of what is said to have taken place on that
occasion is too vivid a picture to be overlooked. He relates that
Captain John Hull was appointed to manufacture the pine tree money
and had about one shilling out of every twenty to pay him for the
trouble of making them. Hereupon all the old silver in the colony
was handed over to Captain John Hull. The battered silver cans and
tankards, I suppose, and silver buckles and broken spoons, and
silver hilts of swords that figured at court--all such articles were
doubtless thrown into the melting pot together.
The magistrates soon began to suspect that the mint-master would
have the best of the bargain and they offered him a large sum of
money if he would but give up that twentieth shilling which he was
continually dropping into his own pocket. But Captain Hull declared
himself perfectly satisfied with the shilling. And well he might be,
for so diligently did he labor that in a few years, his pockets,
his money bags, and his strong box were overflowing with pine tree
shillings.
Then Samuel Sewall, afterwards the famous Judge Sewall of the days
of witchcraft fame, came a courting to Hull's daughter. Betsy was
a fine and hearty damsel and having always fed heartily on pumpkin
pies, doughnuts, Indian puddings and other Puritan dainties, she was
as round and plump as a pudding herself.
"Yes, you may take her," said Captain Hull, to her lover, young
Sewall, "and you'll find her a heavy burden enough." Hawthorne
describes the wedding and the costumes of the contracting parties
and their friends, and Captain Hull he "supposes," rather improbably
one would think, however, "dressed in a plum colored coat all the
buttons of which were made of pine tree shillings. The buttons of
his waistcoat were of sixpences and the knees of his small clothes
were buttoned with silver three-pences ... and as to Betsy herself,
she was blushing with all her might, and looked like a full-blown
peony or a great red apple."
When the marriage ceremony was over, at a whispered word from
Captain Hull, a large pair of scales was lugged into the room, such
as wholesale merchants use for weighing bulky commodities, and
quite a bulky commodity was now to be weighed in them. "Daughter
Betsy," said the mint-master, "get into one side of these scales."
Miss Betsy--or Mrs. Sewall as we must now call her--did as she was
bid and again the servants tugged, this time bringing in a huge
iron-bound oaken chest which being opened proved to be full to the
brim with bright pine tree shillings fresh from the mint. At Captain
Hull's command the servants heaped double handfuls of shillings into
one side of the scales, while Betsy remained in the other. Jingle,
jingle, went the shillings as handful after handful was thrown
in, till, plump and ponderous as she was, they fairly weighed the
young lady from the floor. "There, son Sewall," cried the honest
mint-master, resuming his seat, "take these shillings for my
daughter's portion. Use her kindly and thank Heaven for her. It's
not every wife that's worth her weight in silver."
However interesting the story may be of the plump girl sitting in
one pan of the scales as shillings were thrown into the other, as
depicted in Hawthorne's version of the affair, we must be permitted
to consider that time has cast a halo around the mint-master's
daughter and increased both her avoirdupois and her dowry.
Massachusetts was the only New England colony to coin silver but
close upon the date of the issue of the first "pine tree" money
came the Maryland shilling, sixpence, groat and penny, the last in
copper. These bear no date but appeared about 1659, the dies having
been made in England.
Numerous coins were later made in the colonies, either intended for
regular circulation or as tokens privately issued, among which are
the Granby coppers--rude half-pennies--made in 1737 by one John
Higley, the blacksmith, at Granby, Conn. They were made of soft
copper which was dug at Granby and are never found in very good
condition.
The word dollar is the English form of the German word thaler, and
the origin of the thaler is as follows: In the year 1519, Count
Schlick of Bohemia issued silver coins weighing one ounce each and
worth 113 cents. They were coined at Joachimsthal, that is, James's
Valley or dale, hence they became known as "Joachimsthalers," soon
shortened to thalers. Through trade with the Dutch these coins came
into England in the sixteenth century and are referred to sometimes
as "dalers."
But the dollar came to the American continent not through the Dutch
or English but through the Spanish. This was due to the extent of
the Spanish Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and
also to the great quantities of silver which Spain drew from her
mines in Mexico and South America. The Spanish coin was, strictly
speaking, a peso, better known as a piece of eight, because it was
equal to eight reals (royals). As it was of the same value, the name
dollar was given to the piece of eight about the year 1690.
The most famous Spanish dollar was known as the pillar dollar,
because it had on one side two pillars, representing the pillars
of Hercules, the classical name for the Straits of Gibralter, and
this Spanish dollar was common in America at the time of the War of
Independence.
In 1690 the treasury of the colony was so nearly exhausted that the
Great and General Court decided to issue promises to pay, the first
paper money minted by any Colony. The values were ten shillings, one
pound and five pounds. The occasion for this issue was primarily the
expenses of Governor Phips's expedition against Quebec, which was
thriftily expected to more than pay costs. The French and Indians,
however, were too strong for Sir William, and the colonial treasury
was faced with costs to the amount of £50,000, instead of the
anticipated loot. These "Colony" or "Charter bills" obtained a wide
circulation and were called in annually and redeemed and reissued as
need arose, but after a few years, confidence in them decreased and
before long they passed at a discount as great as 30 per cent.
In 1722, Massachusetts tried to relieve the scarcity of small change
by issuing five hundred pounds worth of tokens of the value of one,
two and three pence. They were printed on parchment to make them
more durable but apparently were not a success as there were no more
printed.
As the years went by, monetary conditions became more and more
unstable, and in 1740 an attempt was made to establish a bank in
the hope of placing the currency on a firmer basis. The fight lay
between a silver bank with bullion behind its notes and a land bank
issuing notes guaranteed by mortgages and manufactured articles.
These notes were to come due in twenty years and at that time the
holders instead of receiving coin might be forced to take their pay
in cast iron, bayberry wax, leather, cordwood, or other articles
of trade that might be difficult to dispose of. One of these notes
preserved in the cabinets of the Massachusetts Historical Society
has written on its back, in old-time handwriting, "A Land Bank bill
reserved as a specimen of ye mad humour among many of ye people of
ye Province, 1740."
Money matters now went from bad to worse. The value of silver was
called tenor. In 1740 silver was worth six shillings, eight pence
per ounce and in 1746 seven shillings, sixpence, and the buying
value of bills varied from year to year.
"Imagine having to keep in mind the relative values of bills of old
tenor, with silver at 6/8, or middle tenor; or new tenor firsts at
6/8, but passing current at 7/8; or new tenor seconds, all of which
were laboring under fluctuating but constantly increasing rates of
depreciation, while there were also to be remembered Connecticut
bills of new tenor at 8/. and Rhode Island bills at 6/9 an ounce,
and also £110,000 worth of private bills of the issue of 1733, which
were worth a third more than the Colony bills, and also £120,000 in
notes issued in 1740, "on a silver basis," to stifle the land bank
and equivalent to cash, and in addition "public bills of the four
promises at 29/. an ounce," whatever that means, and you will not
wonder that there was confusion worse confounded."[66]
[66] Malcolm Storer, "Pine Tree Shillings and other Colonial Money,"
in _Old-Time New England_, October, 1929.
In 1749 Parliament voted to reimburse Massachusetts to the amount of
nearly one million dollars, for expenses incurred in the expedition
against Louisburg and this money was used to redeem outstanding
paper bills at the rate of ten in paper to one in cash. The next
year old tenor ceased to be lawful money amid general rejoicing and
much doggerel verse.
"Now old tenor fare you well,
No man such tattered bills will tell,
Now dollars pass and are made free,
It is the year of jubilee."