When Pilgrims and other settlers set out on the ship for America in , they intended to lay anchor in northern Virginia. The Backcountry. This was the only mint of any size or duration in the colonies, although minting of small copper coins and tokens did occur at a number of locations Jordan, ; Mossman, The issue is further complicated by the fact that the total amount of cash in circulation fluctuated considerably from year to year, depending on such things as the demand for colonial staples and the magnitude of British military expenditure in the colonies Sachs, ; Hemphill, The shortchanging of the public creditors, through some mechanism not adequately explained to my understanding, was sufficient to make the new paper money a defacto legal tender. Citation: Michener, Ron.