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A common currency: early US monetary policy and the transition to the dollar

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  • ROUSSEAU, PETER L.

Abstract

The transition of the US money supply from the mixture of paper bills of credit, certificates and foreign coins that circulated at various exchange rates with the British pound sterling during the colonial period to the unified dollar standard of the early national period was rapid and had far-reaching consequences. This article documents the transition and highlights the importance of this standardisation in bringing order to the nation s finances and in facilitating the accumulation and intermediation of capital. It describes how the struggle of the colonies to maintain viable substitutes for hard money set the stage for the financial leaders of the Federalist period to settle upon the dollar, attach it to a convertible metallic base, and create a national bank that issued notes denominated in the new monetary unit. It also presents recently constructed estimates of the US money stock for 1790 1820 and relates them to measures of the nation s early modernisation.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Cambridge University Press in its journal Financial History Review.

Volume (Year): 13 (2006)
Issue (Month): 01 (April)
Pages: 97-122

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Handle: RePEc:cup:fihrev:v:13:y:2006:i:01:p:97-122_00

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  1. Farley Grubb, 2003. "Creating the U.S. Dollar Currency Union, 1748–1811: A Quest for Monetary Stability or a Usurpation of State Sovereignty for Personal Gain?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1778-1798, December.
  2. Peter L. Rousseau & Richard Sylla, 2001. "Financial Systems, Economic Growth, and Globalization," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0119, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
  3. Calomiris, Charles W., 1988. "Institutional Failure, Monetary Scarcity, and the Depreciation of the Continental," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(01), pages 47-68, March.
  4. Johansen, Soren, 1991. "Estimation and Hypothesis Testing of Cointegration Vectors in Gaussian Vector Autoregressive Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(6), pages 1551-80, November.
  5. King, Robert G. & Levine, Ross, 1993. "Finance and growth : Schumpeter might be right," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1083, The World Bank.
  6. Peter L. Rousseau & Richard Sylla, 1999. "Emerging Financial Markets and Early U.S. Growth," NBER Working Papers 7448, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  7. Rousseau, Peter L & Wachtel, Paul, 1998. "Financial Intermediation and Economic Performance: Historical Evidence from Five Industrialized Countries," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(4), pages 657-78, November.
  8. King, Robert G. & Levine, Ross, 1993. "Finance and growth : Schumpeter might be right," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1083, The World Bank.
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Cited by:
  1. Farley Grubb, 2008. "The Distribution of Congressional Spending During the American Revolution, 1775-1780: The Problem of Geographic Balance," Working Papers 08-21, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
  2. Peter L. Rousseau, 2009. "Monetary Policy and the Dollar," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0913, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
  3. Farley W. Grubb, 2005. "State "Currencies" and the Transition to the U.S. Dollar: Reply—Including a New View from Canada," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1341-1348, September.
  4. Peter L. Rousseau, 2013. "Politics on the road to the U.S. monetary union," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 13-00006, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.

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