When America first declared its independence, how did ex-colonists begin using new American currency without problems of acceptance, actual weight to the currency, or initial reputation?

Question

How was a new government just able to declare, “This shall be the money we use”, and have citizens accept it as well as use it to pay for goods? Especially when it was newly made and had no weight?

(spoken as a non American)

In: Economics

Answer 1

There’s nothing specific to America here.

>How was a new government just able to declare, “This shall be the money we use”, and have citizens accept it as well as use it to pay for goods?

The core to all this is having a reserve bank. The government declares that the central bank will accept this new currency as legal tender.

Which means all the other banks know that if they accept it, they can take it to the central bank, and exchange it for gold or whatever.

Which means that retailers can accept it, and they can take it to their bank, and similarly change it for other currencies.

Which means that citizens can accept it from other people, because they can take that currency to retailers and spend it on stuff.

The central bank is the key.