Continental paper money that was issued during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), was not backed by a physical asset such as gold or silver. It lost all value shortly after the war

Praying Medic‏ @prayingmedic

17) The Continental paper money that was issued during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), was not backed by a physical asset such as gold or silver. It lost all value shortly after the war because people stopped accepting it as payment for goods and services.

3:09 PM - 1 Jan 2019

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   Praying Medic‏ @prayingmedic 5h5 hours ago
   18) There were no less than six different types of dollar bills in circulation following the revolution. All these paper currencies were convertible to gold “on demand”, which meant that one could walk into a bank and be given gold for the value of their dollars.
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   Praying Medic‏ @prayingmedic 5h5 hours ago
   19) This, by the way, was the original "gold standard" as it was used by the nation's founders and which was implemented successfully over most of the next century.
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   Praying Medic‏ @prayingmedic 5h5 hours ago
   20) During the Civil War, (1862) because thousands of troops had to be paid, ships and artillery had to be built and the treasury did not have adequate gold supplies on hand, President Lincoln issued a paper dollar that was not fully exchangeable for gold.
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   Praying Medic‏ @prayingmedic 5h5 hours ago
   21) The new Federal Dollars were printed with green ink, and became known as “greenbacks" or "funny money."
   
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   Praying Medic‏ @prayingmedic 5h5 hours ago
   22) The value of greenbacks fluctuated wildly with military wins and losses because this form of currency wasn't tied to the price of gold. The Inflation rate for greenbacks soared as high as 75%.
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   Praying Medic‏ @prayingmedic 5h5 hours ago
   23) As a lesson in how demand affects the value of non-commodity backed currency, Confederate dollars, that were also issued during this period, followed the fate of the Confederacy and were worthless by the end of the war.
   
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   Praying Medic‏ @prayingmedic 4h4 hours ago
   24) Officially, the US didn't begin with a gold standard, but with a "bimetallic" standard. Both gold and silver were used to define the monetary unit. The first coinage act defined the dollar as 371.25 grains of pure silver minted with alloy into a coin of 416 grains.
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