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Card money was in use in New France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. ==Historic Context== The growth of French colonization, which began about the middle of the 17th century, was accompanied by continual difficulty in finding sufficient currency for the needs of settlers, merchants and government establishments. The government of France, involved in almost continuous financial difficulties on its own account, was extremely hard pressed to finance the support and development of its outposts in New France (Bank of Canada, 1966, p. 6). In 1685, the colonial authorities in New France found themselves particularly insolvent. A military expedition against the Iroquois, allies of the English, had gone badly and tax revenues were down owing to the curtailment of the beaver trade because of illegal trading with the English (Powel, 2005, p. 4). As nearly everything in common use in New France had to be imported and purchased from France, the colony’s export revenue fell far short of its expenditure on imported goods. (McLaghlan, 1911, p. 6). As a result, not only were funds hard to come by, but the scarcity of actual currency and coinage in New France created a persistent problem in daily transactions (Bank of Canada, 1966, p. 6). Typically, when short of funds, the government simply delayed paying merchants for their purchases until a fresh supply of specie arrived from France. The payment of soldiers however, could not be postponed. Having exhausted all other financial avenues, Jacques de Meulles, intendant of justice, police and finance in New France, was desperate for a solution (Powel, 2005, p. 4). This quandary is recorded in a letter that Jacques De Meulles wrote to the Count de Toulouse, Secretary of State for the Department of Marine in Paris on September 29, 1685. The document below contains the first recorded mention of card money (McLaghlan, 1911, p. 2). "I have found myself this year in great straits with regard to the subsistence of the soldiers. You did not provide for funds, my Lord, until January last. I have, notwithstanding, kept them in provisions until September, which makes eight full months. I have drawn upon my own funds and from those of my friends, all I have been able to get, but at last finding them without means to render me further assistance, and not knowing to what Saint to say my vows, money being extremely scarce, having distributed considerable sums on every side for the pay of the soldiers, it occurred to me to issue, instead of money, notes on cards, which I have cut in quarters. . . I have issued an ordinance by which I have obliged all the inhabitants to receive this money in payments, and to give it circulation, at the same time pledging myself, in my own name, to redeem the said notes." (Shortt, 1898). Although card money began as a short-term financial device, it was not long before the cards began to circulate among people as a medium of common exchange and later issues of card money were provided with this specific aim in mind. Over time, card money became an integral part of the currency of French Canada and remained in circulation until the fall of Quebec in 1759 (Bank of Canada, 1966, p. 7). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Card money in New France」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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