New France
(ca. 1600-1770)
The first regular system of exchange in Canada involving Europeans occurred in Tadoussac in the early seventeenth century. Here, French traders bartered each year with the Montagnais people (also known as the Innu), trading weapons, cloth, food, silver items, and tobacco for animal pelts, especially those of the beaver.
In 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded the first colonial settlement at Quebec on the St. Lawrence River. The one universally accepted medium of exchange in the infant colony naturally became the beaver pelt, although wheat and moose skins were also employed as legal tender. As the colony expanded, and its economic and financial needs became more complex, coins from France came to be widely used.
Because of the risks associated with transporting gold and silver (specie) across the Atlantic, and to attract and retain fresh supplies of coin, coins were given a higher value in the French colonies in Canada than in France. In 1664, this premium was set at one-eighth but was subsequently increased. In 1680, monnoye du pays was given a value one-third higher than monnoye de France, a valuation that held until 1717 when the distinction was abolished and all debts and contracts in Canada became payable in monnoye de France.
An inability to keep coins in circulation in French colonies in the Americas led to the minting in 1670 of silver and copper coins designed specially for the colonies. These coins could not be circulated in France on pain of confiscation and punishment. While apparently intended primarily for the West Indies, a small number of these coins are believed to have circulated in Canada.
Spanish dollars (piastres) also began to circulate in the French colonies during the mid-1600s owing to illegal trading with English and Dutch settlers to the south, who used them extensively. Because these coins were of uncertain quality, an "arret' of 1681 required that foreign coins be weighed. In 1683, foreign coins had to be individually appraised. Full-weighted Spanish dollars were stamped with a fleur-de-lys and were valued at four livres, while light coins, depending on their weight, were stamped with a fleur-de-lys and a Roman numeral I, II, III, and IIII, with the lightest coin assigned a value of only 3 livres. Arguably, these overstamped Spanish dollars (and parts thereof) represent the first distinctive Canadian coins. They also foreshadowed the use of Spanish dollars in what was to become British North America.
In 1685, the colonial authorities in New France found themselves short of funds. A military expedition against the Iroquois, allies of the English, had gone badly, and tax revenues were down owing to the curtailment of the beaver trade because of the war and illegal trading with the English. Typically, when short of funds, the government simply delayed paying merchants for their purchases until a fresh supply of specie arrived from France. But the payment of soldiers could not be postponed. Having exhausted other financing avenues and unwilling to borrow from merchants at the terms offered, Jacques de Meulles, Intendant of Justice, Police, and Finance came up with an ingenious solution-the temporary issuance of paper money, printed on playing cards. Card money was purely a financial expedient. It was not until later that its role as a medium of exchange was recognized.
The first issue of card money occurred on 8 June 1685 and was redeemed three months later. These cards were readily accepted by merchants and the general public and circulated freely at face value. Card money was next issued in February 1686. The authorities in France were not pleased, however.
While the authorities in France worried about the risk of counterfeiting and a loss of budgetary control, the colonial authorities successfully argued that the cards served as money in Canada just as coin did in France. Moreover, the Kingdom of France derived benefits from the circulation of cards, since the King was not obliged to send coins to Canada risking loss "either from the sea or from enemies." Reflecting the mercantilist sentiments of the time, they less cogently argued that if coins were to circulate in Canada, some would be used to buy supplies from New England, resulting in "considerable injury to France by the loss of its coinage and the advantage which it would produce among her enemies.'
The concerns of the authorities in France were not entirely misplaced. In the early 1690s, the first signs of inflation began to be noticed as a result of the excessive issuance of card money.Although cards continued to be redeemed in full upon presentation, the stock of card money increased over time faster than demand, causing prices to rise. With the finances of the French government progressively deteriorating during the first part of the eighteenth century, owingm to European wars, financial support for its Canadian colonies was reduced. The colonial authorities in Canada consequently relied increasingly on card money to pay their expenses. In 1717, with inflation rising sharply, it was agreed that card money should be redeemed with a 50 per cent discount and withdrawn permanently from circulation. At this time, Canada also adopted the monnoye de France.
By failing to provide a replacement for card money, the unintended consequence of this monetary reform was recession. In an attempt to remedy the situation, copper coins were introduced in 1722, but they were not well received by merchants. Notes issued by private individuals based on their own credit standing also circulated as money, a practice that pre-dated this event, and continued periodically well into the nineteenth century and, arguably, even to the present day. The government, again short of funds, also issued promissory notes called ordonnances, which began to circulate as money.
In March 1729, in response to requests from the public, the government received permission from the King to reintroduce card money. These cards would be redeemed each year for goods or for bills of exchange drawn on funds appropriated for the support of the colony that would be payable in cash in France. The cards, which were strictly limited, were legal tender for all payments and replaced the ordonnances in circulation.
Confidence in this new card money was initially high. With the supply limited and convertible into bills of exchange payable in France, the cards were an economical alternative to the transfer of specie across the Atlantic. Gold and silver began to accumulate in New France and stayed. The government, however, remained financially constrained and began to rely again on ordonnances and another form of Treasury notes called acquits to fund its operations.
With issuance tightly controlled, card money traded at a premium for a time as the government increased its issuance of Treasury notes to pay for its operations. But as French finances deteriorated and the redemption of Treasury notes was repeatedly postponed, trust in card money was also undermined.
By the early 1750s, the distinction between card money and Treasury notes had largely disappeared, and by 1757, the government had discontinued payments in specie; all payments were made in paper. In an application of Gresham's Law-bad money drives out good-gold and silver were hoarded and seldom, if ever, used in transactions.
Gresham's Law,
commonly described as the principle that "bad money drives out good;' was attributed in the nineteenth century to Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-79), an English merchant and financier. In a letter to Queen Elizabeth I, after her accession in 1558, Gresham made this observation in reference to the poor state of English coinage owing to the debasement of the currency during the reigns of her predecessors. While often ascribed to Gresham, the principle had, in fact, been widely observed and commented on in much earlier times.
The idea behind the principle is that people will use "bad" money (e.g., debased coins or paper money) in payments, while "good" money (full-weight coins) is hoarded. However, Gresham's Law is frequently misunderstood. A more accurate rendition of the principle is that bad money drives out good money if they are exchanged at the same price. Such a situation would arise if both modes of payment are legal tender and therefore can be used equally to make payments. Moreover, good money can circulate alongside bad if the demand for money for transactions purposes is not fully satisfied by the circulation of bad money. As well, over history, strong currencies, from the Roman denarius to the U.S. dollar, have predominated in international trade over weak currencies because of widespread confidence in their quality and stability.
A rapid increase in the amount of paper in circulation during the late 1750s resulting from the mounting costs of the war with the British, declining tax revenues, and rampant corruption, led to rapid inflation.
On 15 October 1759, the French government suspended payment of bills of exchange drawn on the Treasury for payment of expenses in Canada until three months after peace was restored. Paper money traded at a sharp discount. Immediately following the British conquest in 1760, paper money became all but worthless. But business in Canada did not come to a halt. Gold and silver that had been hoarded came back into circulation.
Settlement of the paper obligations issued by the colonial authorities in Canada was included in the Treaty of Paris, signed in February 1763, which ended the war between Great Britain and France. In anticipation of a favorable settlement, speculators bought card and other paper money. British merchants also began to accept the paper, although at a discount of 80 to 85 per cent. Governor Murray, in charge of British troops in Quebec, recommended that Canadians hold onto their paper in the hope of a better deal.
After extensive negotiations over the next three years, the French government finally agreed to convert card money and Treasury paper into interest-earning debentures on a sliding scale depending on the type of notes and their age, with discounts ranging from 50 per cent to 80 per cent. Typically, older notes were given a smaller discount. However, with the French government essentially bankrupt, these bonds quickly fell to a discount and, by 1771, they were worthless.
|