Introduction
"Not Worth a Continental"
The paper money shown below is a $7 bill issued in 1777 by the Continental Congress, our governing body during the Revolutionary War. Seven dollars way back in 1777 would have been equivalent to about $170 today. So, imagine it is 1782, the war is over and you have seven "Continental" dollars to celebrate. What would you buy?
There is an old saying, "not worth a Continental dollar," referring to anything that has very little value. Unfortunately, you may not have been able to buy even a snack with your $7 due to the worthlessness of Continental money! How can money be worthless if the government printed it?
- Congress was constantly short on money. Unable to tax citizens directly and dependent upon the generosity of individual states who themselves had financial problems, it resorted to printing paper money. They printed more than $200 million worth between 1775 and 1780! The result was rampant inflation, with the expression "not worth a Continental" reflecting that a bill like this one was not worth one fortieth of its face value by 1780.
- The Continental Congress had no power to tax in order to raise money. However, they could print money, but so could each individual state. Congress printed money with no gold or silver to back it up. The money did not retain its value. It literally was not worth the paper it was printed on! This was just one of the many problems faced by Congress due to the limitations place on them by the Articles of Confederation.
Discover the chronology of major historical events surrounding the framing of the U.S. Constitution at The National Constitution Center's Constitutional Timeline.