(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved. Contact us for information about using this image.
Financing the war for American independence was extremely difficult for former British colonies that had never had to fight outside the protection of the British Empire. By 1782, the new State governments and the Continental Congress were virtually bankrupt. Americans rapidly lost confidence that the paper money being printed in such vast quantities held any real value. Thomas Dickinson of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was typical in preferring "Hard Money" to depreciated paper currency in payment for the beef he supplied as part of the town's allotment for the troops fighting the war.