calities; and among silver pieces the Spanish dollar, from
Louisiana and Cuba, had begun to supersede it as a measure of value. In
New England the shilling had sunk from nearly one fourth to one sixth of
a dollar; in New York to one eighth; in North Carolina to one tenth. It
was partly for this reason that in devising a national coinage the more
uniform dollar was adopted as the unit. At the same time the decimal
system of division was adopted instead of the cumbrous English system,
and the result was our present admirably simple currency, which we owe
to Gouverneur Morris, aided as to some points by Thomas Jefferson.
During the period of the Confederation, the chaotic state of the
currency was a serious obstacle to trade, and it afforded endless
opportunities for fraud and extortion. Clipping and counterfeiting were
carried to such lengths that every moderately cautious person, in taking
payment in hard cash, felt it necessary to keep a small pair of scales
beside him and carefully weigh each coin, after narrowly scrutinizing
its stamp and deciphering its legend.

[Sidenote: Cost of the war; Robert Morris and his immense services.]

In view of all these complicated impediments to business on the morrow
of a long and costly war, it was not strange that the whole country was
in some measure pauperized. The cost of the war, estimated in cash, had
been about $170,000,000--a huge sum if we consider the circumstances of
the country at that time. To meet this crushing indebtedness Mr.
Hildreth reckons the total amount raised by the states, whether by means
of repudiated paper or of taxes, down to 1784, as not more than
$30,000,000. No wonder if the issue of such a struggle seemed quite
hopeless. In many parts of the country, by the year 1786, the payment of
taxes had come to be regarded as an amiable eccentricity. At one
moment, early in 1782, there was not a single dollar in the treasury.
That the government had in any way been able to finish the war, after
the downfall of its paper money, was due to the gigantic efforts of one
great man,--Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania. This statesman was born in
England, but he had come to Philadelphia in his boyhood, and had amassed
an enormous fortune, which he devoted without stint to the service of
his adopted country. Though opposed to the Declaration of Independence
as rash and premature, he had, nevertheless, signed his name to that
document, and scarcely any one had contributed mor