y much the same the country over.
But the dollar and the silver pieces regarded as fractions of a dollar
had no less than five different values."* The importation of foreign
goods was fast draining the hard money out of the country. In an effort
to relieve the situation but with the result of making it much worse,
several of the States began to issue paper money; and this was in
addition to the enormous quantities of paper which had been printed
during the Revolution and which was now worth but a small fraction of
its face value.

* McMaster, "History of the People of the United States",
vol. I, pp. 190-191.

The expanding currency and consequent depreciation in the value of money
had immediately resulted in a corresponding rise of prices, which for a
while the States attempted to control. But in 1778 Congress threw up its
hands in despair and voted that "all limitations of prices of gold and
silver be taken off," although the States for some time longer continued
to endeavor to regulate prices by legislation.* The fluctuating value
of the currency increased the opportunities for speculation which
war conditions invariably offer, and "immense fortunes were suddenly
accumulated." A new financial group rose into prominence composed
largely of those who were not accustomed to the use of money and who
were consequently inclined to spend it recklessly and extravagantly.

* W. E. H. Lecky, "The American Revolution," New York, 1898,
pp. 288-294.

Many contemporaries comment upon these things, of whom Brissot de
Warville may be taken as an example, although he did not visit the
United States until 1788:

"The inhabitants... prefer the splendor of wealth and the show of
enjoyment to the simplicity of manners and the pure pleasures which
result from it. If there is a town on the American continent where the
English luxury displays its follies, it is New York. You will find here
the English fashions: in the dress of the women you will see the most
brilliant silks, gauzes, hats, and borrowed hair; equipages are rare,
but they are elegant; the men have more simplicity in their dress; they
disdain gewgaws, but they take their revenge in the luxury of the table;
luxury forms already a class of men very dangerous to society; I mean
bachelors; the expense of women causes matrimony to be dreaded by men.
Tea forms, as in England, the basis of parties of pleasure; many things
are dearer here than in France