Early American currency
Yeah sure, have you seen different kinds of money from different countries? Like pesos, yen, euro, etc.? Well, a long, long time ago, when America was just getting started as a country, they had their own money too. It was really called "colonial currency" because at that time, before America was its own country, each of the 13 original colonies had its own money.
It was pretty different from what we use today. Colonial currency was usually made of paper, and each bill was printed with different pictures of things that the colonists thought were important. Sometimes, they had pictures of animals, like deer or fish, or pictures of people who were important to that colony, like the governor.
The money also had different denominations, which just means different values. For example, there might be a $1 bill, or a $5 bill, just like we have today. But instead of saying "one dollar" like our money does, colonial currency might say "one pound" or "one shilling" instead.
Using this money was pretty different back then too. When you went to a store, you might have to haggle or argue with the shopkeeper about how much things should cost because there wasn’t a set standard for how much something should cost. And if you wanted to go on a trip to another colony or back home to England, you had to convert your money into the currency used in that place.
Eventually, after America became its own country and decided on one set of laws, they made a new currency called the US dollar which is the money we still use today!
It was pretty different from what we use today. Colonial currency was usually made of paper, and each bill was printed with different pictures of things that the colonists thought were important. Sometimes, they had pictures of animals, like deer or fish, or pictures of people who were important to that colony, like the governor.
The money also had different denominations, which just means different values. For example, there might be a $1 bill, or a $5 bill, just like we have today. But instead of saying "one dollar" like our money does, colonial currency might say "one pound" or "one shilling" instead.
Using this money was pretty different back then too. When you went to a store, you might have to haggle or argue with the shopkeeper about how much things should cost because there wasn’t a set standard for how much something should cost. And if you wanted to go on a trip to another colony or back home to England, you had to convert your money into the currency used in that place.
Eventually, after America became its own country and decided on one set of laws, they made a new currency called the US dollar which is the money we still use today!