But the most serious problems facing the not-so-united states, more ominous than all the others put together, was the ballooning debt. Under the Continental Congress the main source of revenue was the printing press, meaning that Congress mass-produced paper money in the form of dollars, called continentals. It also issued what it called certificates, which were promissory notes given to merchants and farmers as payment for food and clothing needed by the Continental Army. In short, apart from French loans, the entire fiscal policy of the Continental Congress was based on a massive hoax, which
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