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These Continental currency notes were all printed by Hall and Sellers of Philadelphia. Lacking the power to tax, the Continental Congress resorted to issuing paper money with a resolution passed on June 22, 1775. The resolution called for the notes to be redeemable in "Spanish milled dollars, or the value thereof in gold and silver." The Congress had to use the Spanish mill dollar for a standard because the value of a shilling varied from colony to colony. In fact, the Spanish mill dollar was legal currency in the United States until 1857.

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