Before the Civil War local banks issued their own money. It was totally legit, too.

First Nations' seashell-derived wampum was Massachusetts' first legal currency, used as currency throughout northeastern America into the 19th century.

What causes shifts in currency after a political event is, essentially, human expectations.

The Currency Act of 1764 returned the restrictions of 1751: banning colonists from printing their own legal tender bills.

Why, in the face of international economic ruin, did so many countries persist in maintaining the gold standard leading up to the Great Depression?

In 1997, an economist looked at divided opinions about the Euro years before the currency was introduced.