America’s money problems didn’t start with today’s $36 trillion national debt (though that’s a whopper of a problem). In fact, if George Washington were telling the story, he might say that money woes nearly cost America her independence from the start.
For eight long years, despite repeated pleas to Congress, Washington was forced to bootstrap a half-starved, rag-tag, and disease-ridden Continental Army. As Joseph J. Ellis writes in Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence, “The Continental Army was kept on life support but was never provided the money and men Washington requested, even though the resources for a larger and better-equipped army were readily available.”
In part, the brick wall Washington repeatedly ran into centered on a reluctance among delegates to embrace the idea of a central army. A powerful military was one of their chief grievances against the British Crown after all.
Show me the money
Beyond a preference among many delegates for individual state militias, however, a more practical deterrent confounded Washington’s abilities on the battlefield. The fledgling America had no single, unified form of currency. Washington had to appeal to individual states to contribute to the war effort. Some were more forthcoming than others. And the funds were perpetually insufficient.
Think of it. Even as the Continental Congress voted to “totally dissolve” its allegiance and political connection with Great Britain, tapping Washington to command the army that would defend The Cause, it provided no cohesive mechanism to fund this highly treasonable decision.
In addition to pay for soldiers, there were essential logistics that required attention. As Ellis writes, “The Continental Army had to start from scratch, improvising on the run to create a centralized system for providing food, a quartermaster corps to deliver equipment and clothing, and rules of hygiene and medical care, right down to the elemental matters of latrines and waste disposal.”
In other words, waging war requires money. But during the Colonial Period and even in the years following the Revolutionary War there was no common currency, no central bank (another prospect that left many delegates squeamish). Commerce functioned on a mix of coins made in the colonies and also abroad. It was not until Washington’s successful prosecution of the war that the newly formed United States would begin to address the matter of money.
An act of Congress
Following the war, the Articles of Confederation granted states the ability to make their own currency and determine the value of that currency, but that only added to the confusion. Ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788 mapped out a better way.
Section 8 of the new Constitution gave Congress the power to “coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures.”
On April 2, 1792, Congress approved the Coinage Act, establishing a national Mint and authorizing the federal government to regulate production and valuation of the new nation’s coins.
In what must have been a wholly gratifying act after years of wrangling with Congress over money, President George Washington appointed David Rittenhouse as the first director of the United States Mint. Rittenhouse oversaw the construction of the first Mint located in Philadelphia—the first federal building erected under the Constitution.
Coinage250
In celebration of the America’s Semiquincentennial in 2026, the United States Mint plans to make design changes to most of the nation’s circulating coins. These coins will commemorate 250 years of American Liberty.
You can sign up here for updates about the availability of these new collectible coins.
This article is part of Writing for the Public Square’s Countdown America 250 series celebrating the Semiquincentennial of America’s founding.
Joseph J. Ellis’ book, Revolutionary Summer, is one of the selections in the Writing for the Public Square Countdown Challenge. For more information about how to join the reading challenge, visit America’s Countdown to 250!