and Indian War. Virginia issued £250,000 in bills of credit to finance both public and private debts. This legislation differed from the 1751 act in that it prohibited the colonists from designating paper currency for use as payment for any debts, public or private. Parliament did not, however, prohibit the colonists from issuing paper money. The Act was put into place as a hedge against risks associated with economic fluctuations and uncertainty. The colonial government of the Province of New York insisted that the Currency Act prevented it from providing funds for British troops in compliance with the Quartering Act. As a result, in 1770, Parliament gave permission (10 Geo. III c. 35) for New York to issue £120,000 in paper currency for public but not private debts. Parliament extended these concessions to the other colonies in 1773 (13 Geo. III c. 57) by amending the Currency Act 1764, permitting the colonies to issue paper currency as legal tender for public debts. According to historian Jack Sosin, the British government had made its point: Legacy Currency Acts created tension between the colonies and the mother country, and were a contributing factor in the coming of the American Revolution. In all of the colonies except Delaware, the Acts were considered to be a "major grievance". When the First Continental Congress met in 1774, it issued a Declaration of Rights, which outlined colonial objections to certain Acts of Parliament. Congress called on Parliament to repeal the Currency Act of 1764, one of seven Acts labeled "subversive of American rights". However, according to historians Jack Greene and Richard Jellison, the currency debate was no longer really a "live issue" in 1774, due to the 1773 amendment of the Act. The controversy's most important impact was psychological, in that it helped convince many colonists that Parliament did not understand or care about their problems. Colonial leaders came to believe that they, rather than Parliament, were better suited to legislate for the colonies. See also Early American currency Gold Standard Act of the United States (1900), also sometimes called the "Currency Act" Mercantilism Navigation Acts Sugar Act 1764 Stamp Act 1765 References Notes Bibliography Finkelstein, Stanley S. "The Currency Act of 1764: A Quantitative Reappraisal." The American Economist 12.2 (1968): 38–47. Greene, Jack P. and Richard M. Jellison. "The Currency Act of 1764 in Imperial-Colonial Relations, 1764–1776". The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol.