Note 145 — E. CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION

This was a matter of supreme moment. The first legislature of the new State found it necessary to fix a "currency in kind," as legal-tender, in which all business transactions should be carried on, and all government salaries paid. A pound of sugar was to pass for one shilling; a fox or raccoon skin for two shillings; a gallon of peach brandy for three shillings; and an otter or a deer skin for six shillings. Easterners, even Benjamin Franklin, indulged in much laughter at this "money which could not be counterfeited," forgetting how their own fathers had used similar currency.