Feb 26th, 1777, Continental Currency 7 Dollar Banknote - Revolutionary War Note - Baltimore Issue Seven Dollars Continental Congress Note

This listing is for the photographed February 26th, 1777 7 Dollar Continental Currency Note. Issued in Baltimore by the Continental Congress. Other Continental Currency notes were issued in Philadelphia, but as the British occupied the city at the time of this meeting of the Continental Congress, it took place in Baltimore, with the notes authorized at the meeting being issued there as well. Rare and amazing piece of history, still in excellent condition. Choice Fine (F+) grade/condition. More history below. CC-60.

Because few coins were minted in the Thirteen Colonies, which later became the United Colonies and then the United States, foreign coins like the Spanish dollar were widely circulated. Colonial governments, at times, issued paper money to facilitate economic activities. The British Parliament passed Currency Acts in 1751, 1764, and 1773 to regulate colonial paper money.

During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to monetary regulations arbitrarily imposed by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money to pay for military expenses. The Continental Congress also issued paper money during the Revolution — known as Continental currency — to fund the war effort. To meet the monetary demands of the war, State and Continental governments printed large amounts of currency, leading to rapid depreciation. By the end of the war, these paper notes became effectively worthless. Additionally, British counterfeiting gangs contributed further to the decreased value. By its conclusion, only a few counterfeiters had been caught and preemptively hanged, for the crime.

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Feb 26th, 1777, Continental Currency 7 Dollar Banknote - Revolutionary War Note - Baltimore Issue Seven Dollars Continental Congress Note