English North American Colonies:Money
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In the 1670s to 1690s a Post office was established in the Various Colonies under Patent to the Crown that went between the principal cities and towns of the provinces. In New England it ran weekly from Portsmouth in New Hampshire to Boston in Massachusetts Bay, then to New York and south into Pennsylvania and beyond.1 By the first decades of the 18th century the post ran weekly between the cities from Portsmouth to Williamsburg in Virginia.
Postage was charged by distance, and varied between destinations.2 The person posting the mail had the option of paying nothing, paying the entire charge in advance, or making only a down payment, forcing the addressee to pay any remaining charges before the letter would be delivered to them.2 If the letter contained more than one sheet of paper, or more than one type of letter (a bill of exchange or lading, invoice, etc), or more than one note, it would be charged double or triple the normal postage rate accordingly.3
Letters sent through the post were marked at the post office that they started from with the name of the stage and the postage to its destination.3 Along side the postage due the word “paid” and an amount were added if the letter was prepaid.3 If the letter was going to a large town or city, the letter, if not picked up the day it arrived, would be delivered by a postal worker to the Addressee's residence at the charge of one half-penny for the use of the worker on delivery duty.3 This service allowed the recipient to make a reply before the next returning mail departed.
The postal system of the Mid-Eighteenth Century was not nearly as extensive as it is now. Ben Franklin said in 1766 “...The posts only go along the sea coasts; they do not, except in a few instances, go back into the country...”4 In fact, there were only about 60 post offices in the Colonies in 1765, almost all of which were on the coasts or not more than 60 miles inland.2 Franklin was Deputy Post-Master of North America from 1753 to 1774.2
Once mail reached the end of the postal line as it headed further inland, there were a few options remaining. One could send the letter on by postal express, at an additional cost of 3 pence (sterling value) per mile,2 or wait for someone who is traveling in the direction of the addressee to pick it up and carry it the rest of the way.4 This later method was a common practice, and became an easy way for Journeymen Craftsmen, businessmen, traders and travelers of every type to earn goodwill and small amounts of money in the towns they passed through. In towns where there was no post office a tavern, inn or store usually served the purpose alongside its usual duties.1
The Postal System also allowed for the sending of Newspapers, an important source of news and information on many things in the period 5. These newspapers carried information on politics (local, inter-colonial, international and otherwise), foreign and near battles, of navies and armies moving about the globe, lotteries, lost horses and slaves, found horses and slaves, goods and land to be sold, estates to be settled and ads for entertainments.6 With lists of ships going in and out of various ports and regions with their planned or actual departures and arrivals, the People would be able to gauge the transport situation, which gives huge insight into how or when you can go between the Mother Country, and when goods and news may come in. Also, Legal Notices and advertisements were added to quickly pass them on.
The form of addressing letters was slightly different then the modern day, as houses on streets were not numbered. Usually the recipient's Name, trade, Town of Residence (in larger cities their neighborhood as well) and Colony were all that was needed to direct the letter to its destination.7
1 National Postal Museum. “Colonies and the Mail.” http://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2a1b_colonies.html Accessed 10 October MMVII
2 Franklin, Benjamin. “Table of port for all letters” (1765) http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=11&cmd=1&id=77743&img=1 Accessed 10 October MMVII
3 Franklin, Benjamin. “Post office directions and instructions” Benjamin Franklin Papers Vol 5 No. 161a http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=5&page=161a (Accessed 13 October MMVII)
4 “Examination before the Committee of the Whole of the House of Commons” Benjamin Franklin Papers Vol 13 No. 124a. (http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=13&page=124a Accessed 12 October MMVII)
5 “Additional Instruction to the Deputy Postmasters of North America, 20 April 1758” Benjamin Franklin Papers Vol. 7 No. 390b (http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=11&cmd=1&id=77743&img=1 Accessed 12 October MMVII)
6 The Virginia Gazette, 5 September 1755, No. 243 The Virginia Gazette Archives in the Rockefeller Library Digital Collection. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/VirginiaGazette/VGIssueThumbs.cfm?IssueIDNo=51.H.54 (Accessed 22 October MMVII)
7 National Postal Museum. “Out of the Mails” http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/outofthemails/postwar2.html
Finance
Trade
Sources
Franklin, Benjamin. “Tables of the Port of all single letters carried by post in the Northern district of North America” http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=11&cmd=1&id=77743&img=1 (Accessed 12 October MMVII)
“Additional Instruction to the Deputy Postmasters of North America, 20 April 1758” Benjamin Franklin Papers Vol. 7 No. 390b http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=11&cmd=1&id=77743&img=1 (Accessed 12 October MMVII)
“Examination before the Committee of the Whole of the House of Commons” Benjamin Franklin Papers Vol 13 No. 124a. http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=13&page=124a (Accessed 12 October MMVII)
Coke, Roger. A Discourse of Trade. (London, England:1670) http://pierre-marteau.com/wiki/index.php?title=History_of_Economics:Editions (Accessed 18 October MMVII)
Darnton, Robert. "Presidential Address: An Early Information Society: News and the Media in Eighteenth-Century Paris," The American Historical Review February 2000 http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/105.1/ah000001.html (Accessed 5 November MMVII)
East, Andrea and Richman, Micheal. Coins, currency and cash in 18th century England. http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/money/ (Accessed 17 October MMVII)
Fowle and Rogers. “An exact table to bring old tenor into lawful money.” (Boston, Massachusetts: Rogers and Fowle, 1750) 
(Accessed 12 October MMVII)
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Grubb, Farley. Theory, evidence and belief- the colonial money puzzle revisited: reply to Michner and Wright Economic Journal Watch, Jan. 2006 Vol 3 No 1. http://www.econjournalwatch.org/pdf/GrubbReplyJanuary2006.pdf (Accessed 17 October MMVII)
New Hampshire Provincial & State Papers, Vol.17 part 2 (New York, NY: AMS Press, 1973). “Mr Mason's Account of the Commodities of NH Rec'd December 1671.” pg 515
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Us department of commerce. Bicentennial Edition Historical Statistics of the United States, colonial times to 1970. (Washington DC: 1975) Pp 1183
The Virginia Gazette Archives in the Rockefeller Library Digital Collection. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/VirginiaGazette/VGIssueThumbs.cfm?IssueIDNo=51.H.54 (Accessed 5 November MMVII)
Smith, William. “The Colonial Post office” American Historical Review 21 (January 1916): 258-75. http://dinsdoc.com/smith-1.htm (accessed 5 November MMVII)
“A mournful lamentation for the sad and deplorable death of Mr. Old Tenor” (Boston, Massachusetts: 1750) 
(Accessed 12 October MMVII)
Coin and Currency Collections in the Department of Special Collections University of Notre Dame Libraries. Regal British Coppers in the Colonies. http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Br-Copper.intro.html (Accessed 17 October MMVII)
Coin and Currency Collections in the Department of Special Collections University of Notre Dame Libraries. Counterfeit British Coppers http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/CtfBrit.intro.html (Accessed 17 October MMVII)
Coin and Currency Collections in the Department of Special Collections University of Notre Dame Libraries. Small Change coinage of Ca. 1700 and related coinage proposals: Intro. http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/MA-Pence.intro.html (Accessed 17 October MMVII)
National Postal Museum. “Colonies and the Mail.” http://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2a1b_colonies.html (Accessed 17 October MMVII)
Probate inventories of York County VA, held by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Rockefeller Library. http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/BrowseProbates.cfm (Accessed 5 November MMVII)
The Story of Banking: A History of English Banking. Royal Bank of Scotland http://www.rbs.com/about03.asp?id=ABOUT_US/OUR_HERITAGE/OUR_HISTORY/STORY_BANKING/BRITISH_BANKING (Accessed 17 October MMVII)
History dective three: A ninenteenth century banknote- Childs and Co. note. Royal Bank of Scotland. http://www.rbs.co.uk/Group_Information/Memory_Bank/Our_Teaching_Resources/The_Teaching_Resources/History_Detectives/shared_content/banknote/image_bank_04.htm (Accessed 17 October MMVII)
Wikipedia. Article on “Deal” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal) Accessed 18 October MMVII
Literature
