Currency Act of 1764

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Currency Act of 1764

CURRENCY ACT OF 1764. 19 April 1764. One of a set of measures designed by George Grenville to tighten Britain's control over the empire, the Currency Act prohibited all colonies from issuing any paper money as legal tender and from extending the time period over which their outstanding paper money would be paid off and retired. Intended primarily to prevent the colonies from paying debts in Britain with depreciated paper money, the act also created a shortage of paper money, which had been the principal form of circulating currency in the colonies, at a time when the Sugar Act, another of Grenville's measures, cut off the supply of specie formerly acquired in trade with the West Indies. Parliament later tried to ameliorate some of these negative consequences by allowing colonies south of New England to issue a limited amount of paper money. This compromise was too late to assuage colonial anger against the imperial government.

SEE ALSO Grenville Acts; Grenville, George; Stamp Act; Sugar Act.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jensen, Merrill, ed. English Historical Documents. Vol. IX: American Colonial Documents to 1776. David C. Douglas, general editor. New York: Oxford University Press, 1955.

Thomas, Peter D. G. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution,1763–1767. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1975.

                            revised by Harold E. Selesky

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Currency Act of 1764

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