In 1755 Pennsylvania had £160,000 currency out; and in 1783 the State’s irredeemable currency had been increased by various issues until it reached $4,325,000, a sum simply ruinous to all values.
The general plan of these loans was good. No bills were loaned but on good security. The friends of the system were many.
Paper money was also issued at times by individuals. In May, 1746, Joseph Gray gave notice that Franklin had printed for him £27,100 in notes of hand of 2 d., 3 d., and 6 d., “out of sheer necessity for want of pence for running change. Whoever takes them shall have them exchanged on demand with the best money I have.”
In 1749 the scarcity of small change was so great that the inhabitants petitioned for relief, and a committee of the Assembly was appointed to bring in a bill for the issue of £20,000, mostly in small bills.
An association was formed for issuing paper money to relieve the pressure for change. Eight reputable merchants issued five-pound notes to the amount of £20,000, payable at nine months with five per cent interest. It was soon evident that anyone might do the same thing, and the community be flooded with valueless currency. It was also at the same time a new way of borrowing capital. A petition signed by two hundred tradesmen was presented to the Assembly, which forbade it.
In 1763 the whole paper-money system of the colonies, including that of Pennsylvania, was outlawed by act of Parliament, when Franklin wrote a pamphlet, protesting against the act.
This outlawing of colonial money had much to do with prejudicing the people of the colonies against the rule of Parliament.
General Clark Began Draft for Troops in
Drive Against Detroit, March 3, 1781