Sir Pay to Thos Wells Dickinson fifteen
Pounds Hard Money It being for
Beef he furnished for the Town
in August Last & Charge the
same to the Towns Act
To Mr. Josph Barnard
Joseph Barnard
Select
Town Treasurer
David Sexton
Men of
Deerfield Jany 1 1782
Thos Wells Dickinson
Deerfield
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Financing the war for American independence was extremely difficult for former British colonies that had never had to fight outside the protection of the British Empire. By 1782, the new State governments and the Continental Congress were virtually bankrupt. Americans rapidly lost confidence that the paper money being printed in such vast quantities held any real value. Thomas Dickinson of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was typical in preferring "Hard Money" to depreciated paper currency in payment for the beef he supplied as part of the town's allotment for the troops fighting the war.