The American Revolution Era

After 1763, British efforts to tighten imperial taxation and trade control sparked fierce colonial resistance. During the Revolution itself, the Continental Congress faced a different problem: it needed money for the war but had limited ability to fund it due to a lack of power to tax directly. The result was a patchwork of borrowing, state requisitions, foreign aid, and paper money that helped America win independence, but also exposed the weakness of the first national finance system.