1. On 21 May 1779 Congress resolved that the states add to a previous requisition of 2 Jan. 1779 an additional $45 million, to be paid into the Continental Treasury before 1 Jan. 1780. As was customary by 1779, each state was assigned a definite quota of this sum. According to the Articles of Confederation, the quotas were to be based on land values, but since it was impossible to assess them during the war, the quotas were based on population. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 14: 626; Ferguson, Power of the Purse description begins E. James Ferguson, The Power of the Purse: A History of American Public Finance, 1776–1790 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1961) description ends , 33. To support this requisition, on 26 May, Congress adopted an “Address to the Inhabitants of the United States of America,” drafted largely by John Dickinson but substantially revised in Congress and published under JJ’s signature (Early Am. Imprints description begins Early American Imprints, series 1: Evans, 1639–1800 [microform; digital collection], edited by American Antiquarian Society, published by Readex, a division of Newsbank, Inc. Accessed: Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 2006–8, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/ description ends , no. 16639).

2. Continental currency depreciated rapidly in 1779. In January 1778 the exchange rate of currency for specie was 4:1. By January 1779 the rate was 8:1, and by April of that year the rate was 16:1. Anne Bezanson, Prices and Inflation during the American Revolution (Philadelphia, 1951), 65. Taxation was expected to support the value of the currency by creating a demand for it, by withdrawing excess amounts of it from circulation, and by making it unnecessary to issue additional paper money.