1. Materials: Paper and Ink Size:
Object:
Massachusetts thirty-shilling note
Date: 1775
Materials: Paper and Ink
Size:
4” high x 3” wide
Authorized by:
Massachusetts Provisional Congress
Designed and printed by:
Paul Revere
Talk objectives - Four major talking points.
From the collections of the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of American History
Kenneth E. Behring Center

2. A shilling was a denomination of British currency.
The colony printed paper money because it had no natural sources of gold or silver for coinage.
Sword-in-hand notes were issued in sixteen denominations.
Talk objectives - Four major talking points.

3. Issued to finance military costs.
Issued in defiance of the Currency Act (1764) that made it illegal for the colonies to print paper money.
Talk objectives - Four major talking points.

4. The colonists were prepared to defend their liberties at any cost.
“the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with our [one] mind resolved to dye Free-men rather than live Slaves.”
Talk objectives - Four major talking points.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms
July 6, 1775

5. the fighting at Lexington and Concord.
The Continental Army was authorized by Congress on June 14, 1775, following
the fighting at Lexington and Concord.
Paul Revere's design was intended to rally liberty-minded colonists and challenge British government and military officials.
Talk objectives - Four major talking points.

6. These rights included:
The solider has drawn his sword to defend his "just rights and liberties."
The rights set forth in the Magna Carta (1215) evolved into English common law and were incorporated into colonial charters.
These rights included:
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Equal protection under the law
Protection of personal property
Trial by a jury of peers
No taxation without consent
Punishment appropriate to the crime
Protection from prosecution without
evidence

7. Translation of the Latin phrase (which was adopted as the Massachusetts motto in 1775): “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty”
Talk objectives - Four major talking points.

8. The August 18, 1775 note was the first of four issues distributed to the general public.
Talk objectives - Four major talking points.