What was the US currency before the dollar?

Continental currency
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.

What currency did the United States use in 1776?

Continental Currency dollar coin
The Continental Currency dollar coin (also known as Continental dollar coin, Fugio dollar, or Franklin dollar) was the first pattern coin struck for the United States. The coins were minted in 1776 and examples were made on pewter, brass, and silver planchets….Continental Currency dollar coin.

When did the US start using the dollar?

1792
The United States Mint commenced production of the United States dollar in 1792 as a local version of the popular Spanish dollar or piece of eight produced in Spanish America and widely circulated throughout the Americas from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

When did the US change its money?

Paper money in the United States dates back to 1690 and represented bills of credit or IOUs. New currencies were introduced in the U.S. in 1861 to help finance the Civil War. In 1996, a series of bills were introduced that used new methods to prevent counterfeiting.

What currency was used in America during the 1700s?

The most famous of these was the Spanish Dollar, which served as the unofficial national currency of the colonies for much of the 17th and 18th centuries. With its distinctive design and consistent silver content, the Spanish dollar was the most trustworthy coin the colonists knew.

Is US currency backed by gold or silver?

The United States dollar is not backed by gold or any other precious metal. In the years that followed the establishment of the dollar as the United States official form of currency, the dollar experienced many evolutions.

What currency was used in colonial Virginia?

The pound was the currency of Virginia until 1793. Initially, the British pound sterling circulated along with foreign currencies, supplemented from 1755 by local paper money.

What was a lot of money in the 1600s?

Colonists counted their money by the English system of pounds, shillings, and pence — twelve pence (pennies) per shilling, and twenty shillings per pound….Kinds of money.