Currency of Resistance: How Money Helped Forge a Nation

Introduction

The American Revolution was not just a war of ideas. It was a war of logistics. Armies needed to be paid. Supplies had to be purchased. Alliances required financial backing. But the colonies, still legally tied to Britain, lacked a national treasury- and could not rely on imperial coinage to support a rebellion against the empire. So they created their own. The story of revolutionary currency is one of ingenuity and risk. It’s the story of paper backed not by gold, but by belief- by the hope that liberty itself could give value to ink and fiber. And for a time, it did.

Currency in the Mural In the 250th Anniversary Mural, revolutionary currency appears as a small but significant gesture: a hand extending a folded note across a wooden table, while in the background, soldiers assemble and merchants unload goods. The placement suggests its role not as a centerpiece, but as connective tissue- binding together the needs of war, trade, and trust. This vignette sits near the formation of the Continental Congress and the beginnings of formal governance. It reminds the viewer that the path to independence required more than passion. It required paper- and faith.

The Birth of Continental Currency In June 1775, shortly after the outbreak of hostilities in Massachusetts, the Second Continental Congress authorized the issuance of paper money. Known as “Continental currency,” it was meant to finance the war and unify the colonies under a shared medium of exchange. The notes were printed with patriotic imagery, Latin mottos, and symbolic emblems. Some bore the phrase “Continental Currency.” Others included iconography such as a sundial with the words “Make time precious” or a hand planting a tree labeled “We are one.” Each bill was a small act of declaration- announcing not just a rebellion, but a new economy.

A Tool of Trust- and Tension Currency is always a matter of trust. And in the Revolution, that trust was fragile. With no centralized bank, no gold reserves, and no established taxation system to back the notes, Continental currency quickly faced inflation. Counterfeiting by the British further devalued the paper. By 1779, the phrase “not worth a Continental” had entered common speech. But even as the notes lost purchasing power, they carried symbolic weight. They represented a people trying to sustain a war on their own terms. They were signatures of commitment. In taverns and town squares, they reminded colonists that a new order was being imagined- and paid for in more than promises. State Currencies and Local Experiments Alongside Continental currency, individual colonies printed their own notes.

Some experimented with different materials, printing on linen or parchment. Others added local symbols or messages. These currencies functioned with varying degrees of success, but they all shared one trait: they were acts of defiance. To use colonial money was to reject British rule- not just in theory, but in daily transactions. This network of improvised finance, messy as it was, laid the groundwork for future federal systems. It proved that a nation could begin not with a mint, but with a printer’s press and a willingness to believe in its own future.

Why It Still Matters

Money is rarely thought of as revolutionary. But in this case, it was. The colonial currencies of the Revolution remind us that independence is not only won on the battlefield. It is supported, day by day, in small, transactional acts of loyalty. To accept Continental money was to invest in an idea- to say, “This paper has value because the cause does.” That belief, more than gold, kept the early republic afloat until better systems could be built.

Further Reading / Explore More

In the mural, the quiet transfer of currency signals the weight of everyday decisions. The note in hand is small. But what it represents is vast: trust in a country not yet born, and a future being purchased one promise at a time.

Related Blog: How Newspapers Spread Revolution: The Power of the Colonial Press Mural Link: https://usa250thanniversarymural.com Tags: Continental Currency, Revolutionary Finance, Colonial Money, Second Continental Congress, Economic History, Revolutionary War Logistics, Early American Economy, Paper Money, 250 Mural, Currency of Resistance