ABSTRACT
Canada had experience with note issue long before the first banks opened. From 1685 to 1713 and from 1729 to 1760, the government of the French colony of Quebec issued makeshift promissory notes by cutting up and signing playing cards. For the first several years of both periods of playing-card money, the government redeemed the cards promptly when the next ship with gold and silver coin came from France. Later, though, it used forced-tender issue as a means of inflationary finance. Both periods ended with the playing-card money depreciating by one-half or more (Shortt 1986:105-99). British colonial governments in Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island also issued paper money in the 1700s and early 1800s, which likewise depreciated. Merchants’ promissory notes, though widely used for small sums, were generally disliked, because redemption was often in goods rather than in money. There was a need for a more reliable, widely acceptable medium of exchange.
