History of United States Currency

From the 1700s to TodayEarly American colonists used English, Spanish and French money while they were under English rule. However, in 1775, when the Revolutionary War became inevitable, the Continental Congress authorized the issuance of currency to finance the conflict. Paul Revere made the first plates for this "Continental Currency." Those notes were redeemable in Spanish Milled Dollars. The depreciation of this currency gave rise to the phrase "not worth a Continental."(Series 1886 Martha Washington One Dollar Certificate - Martha Washington is the first and only woman to grace the primary portrait of U.S. paper currency.)Image courtesy of United States Secret ServiceAfter the U.S. Constitution was ratified, Congress passed the "Mint Act" of April 2, 1792, which established the coinage system of the United States and the dollar as the principal unit of currency. By this Act the U.S., became the first country in the world to adopt the decimal system for currency. The first U.S. coi...