The Continental Congress created a de-facto monetary standard based on Silver, rather than Gold (the Spanish 8-Reale Dollar remained as Legal Tender in the USA until 1857). Benjamin Franklin, following the war, was to describe the Continental Currency as actually nothing more than a form of taxation, used to clothe and feed the army of revolutionaries.

Due at least in part to the devastation of the Continental Currency (the source of the phrase, ?Not worth a Continental?), it was later decided to use Thomas Jefferson?s Decimal system (also recommended by George Washington) as the basis for fractions of the one, solitary, basic unit of a Dollar, to keep the USA?s monetary system relatively simple and less confusing in comparison to the other denominations of currency in use around the world at that time. This was perhaps the greatest ?revolutionary? decision in the history of monetary systems throughout the world (the ?REVOLUTION WITHIN A REVOLUTION?), ultimately leading to the USA Dollar becoming the ?World?s Standard Currency.?

The copper used to mint the very first ?Official USA Coin? (the 1787 Franklin / Fugio Cent using Design-Elements from the original Continental Currency and Coins) came from the metal THE EVOLUTION OF CONTINENTAL (USA) CURRENCY: