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