The Roots Of Counterfeiting In America
While scrolling through an extensive collection of articles to find one I was interested in, this one on counterfeit money in the colonies specifically caught my eye. I have always been confused about what exactly counterfeiting is and how it’s accomplished, so I found the information in this article very fascinating. Although it is a common perspective that counterfeit currency is a problem exclusive to modern times, in reality, its history dates all the way back to the earliest colonies of the New World. The first known occurrence of counterfeiting in America was when early European settlers began dyeing cheap white shells to match the more valuable blue-black shells (known as wampum, or wampumpeag) that Native Americans used as money. The Native Americans, completely oblivious that it was not real wampum, traded for the shells as usual, allowing the settlers to gain profit without having paid the fair amount.
As America continued to grow and develop, wampum was replaced with a more standard form of currency: coins. To discourage forgers, Virginia and several other colonies pronounced counterfeiting as a capital punishment; however, clever ways were found of continuing the practice without being found out. The most popular forging method in the 17th century was a process called coin clipping, where people would clip or shave small bits off of coins and soon accumulate enough shavings to sell as bullion. In an attempt to stop this practice, England began adding ridges to the edges of coins, making it easier to spot clipped coins and soon halting the practice entirely. I had never known about the origins of ridged edges on coins, so it was quite interesting to hear about the reason behind this!
As precautions piled up and counterfeiters found out that they couldn't safely clip money anymore, they turned to the ordeal of making money itself. Coins were difficult to recreate, as the process required usage of furnaces or forges that were not easily obtained. However, banknotes and paper money soon increased in popularity, and these were fairly easy to copy. Even though experts could have effortlessly told apart a poorly forged banknote with a genuine one, merchants were not capable of doing the same: and merchants were the ones who commonly handled the money.
The colonial government was not ignorant of these criminal practices and took many steps to prevent them, creating harsh laws in an attempt to discourage counterfeiting. However, the laws kept having to be amended, as the criminals would constantly be able to find loopholes in them. In addition, as they were not very well enforced, a majority of violators were never prosecuted. The few miscreants that did end up being caught often managed to slip through the government’s fingers; according to the article, “the jails of the day were extremely weak and poorly guarded, so that a counterfeiter who was caught knew that he had a better than fifty-fifty chance to slip out of the prison at night.”
It is interesting and almost frustrating to realize how with every step the colonies took to prevent the forging of money, counterfeiters took a step as well. This holds true today as well: although dollar bills have become increasingly complicated and are often altered so that forgers cannot easily keep up with them, a good amount of fake money is still being produced to this day. Ultimately, the best method of action is simply to try to stay one step ahead of the advancements of forging, instead of being a step behind. This is something that has been done ever since colonial times, as part of a battle between the government and counterfeiters that won't be ending anytime soon.
