The Bills of Credit of New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut were excluded by most stringent laws, and Massachusetts, with its quickened industry and established credit, "sat as a Queen among the Provinces."
MR. MERCHANT: Mr. Manufacturer, you must have gotten your information from the same source that I obtained mine; all that you've said sounds very much like George Bancroft, whose history of this question I've just read. Since my ancestors came from Connecticut, I am going to tell her tale of woe.
In June, 1709, Connecticut put forth £8,000 of bills, or $40,000; then soon followed that by £11,000 more, which were "to be in value equal to money, and to be accordingly accepted in all public payments."
In October, 1718, Connecticut, to prevent oppression by the rigorous exaction of money, declared its Bills of Credit legal tender for debt contracted between the 12th day of July, 1709, and the 12th day of July, 1727. The time for the operation of the law was afterwards extended to 1735.
In the year 1733 Connecticut loaned interest-bearing bills for nearly £50,000. In May, 1740, it issued £30,000 of a new issue of which £22,000 were to be loaned to freeholders of the colony on mortgage, or personal security, to be repaid one half in four years, the other half in eight years in current bills, or hemp, or duck, or canvas at their current market price. These bills were made legal tender in all payments. But this provision was censured by the lords of trade in England, and in the following November it was repealed.
Roger Sherman, the greatest statesman of Connecticut, gave his mind to the questions about money and mediums, commerce and exchanges, and having mastered them in 1752, under the name of Philoeuonomos, "the lover of just laws," he addressed to the men of Connecticut "a caveat" against injustice or an inquiry into the evil consequences of a fluctuating medium of exchange. These are some of his words: "The Legislature of Connecticut have at length taken effectual care to prevent a further depreciation of the Bills of this colony; the other Governments (meaning New Hampshire and Rhode Island) not having taken the like prudent care, their Bills of Credit are still sinking in their value...." "_Money ought to be something of certain value it being that whereby other things are to be valued_ ..." and this I would lay down as a principle that can't be denied that a debtor ought not to pay any debts with less value that what was contracted for, without the consent of, or against the will of the creditor.... "If what is used as a medium of exchange is fluctuating in its value, it is no better than unjust weights and measures, both of which are condemned by the law of God and man; and, therefore, the longest and most universal custom could never make the use of such a medium either lawful or reasonable.
