Images

A slave cabin on George Washington's Mount Vernon estate, which has been maintained as a historic site.

A bill worth two shillings, or a "2s", from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Collection of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

The silver "pine tree" shilling minted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by John Hull in 1652.

A Delaware bill worth five shillings. The bottom caption reads: "To Counterfeit is Death". Minted in Delaware by James Adam (1724-1792 CE) under the authority of George III of Great Britain and Ireland (r. 1760–1820 CE). Collection of the...

An eight-dollar bill minted by the Continental Congress in 1775. Collection of the Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

Spanish silver dollar from the reign of Charles III of Spain (r. 1759–1788). Minted in Mexico, under the authority of the Kingdom of Spain, 1771.

A silver Continental dollar, minted in 1776. This currency is thought to have been designed by Benjamin Franklin and minted by Elisha Gallaudet at a private mint in Freehold, New Jersey. This early run of coins was produced for approval...

George Washington at Princeton, 1779 CE, by American painter Charles Willson Peale (l. 1741-1827 CE). Peale painted over 60 portraits of Washington (1732–1799 CE) and many of other notable figures of the time. George Washington at Princeton...

A Boy with a Flying Squirrel, 1765, by Anglo-American painter John Singleton Copley (l. 1738-1815). The painting depicts Copley's half-brother Henry Pelham (l. 1748-1806), later a well-known engraver and cartographer, with his pet flying...

An Officer of the 4th Regiment of Foot, 1776-1780 by English portrait painter Thomas Gainsborough (l. c. 1727-1788), presently in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Typical of portraits of the time which frequently featured...