The Currency Act is the name of several Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain that regulated paper money issued by the colonies of British America. The Acts sought to protect British merchants and creditors from being paid in depreciated colonial currency {Citation needed|date=July 2012} . The policy created tension between the colonies and Great Britain, and was cited as a grievance by colonists early in the American Revolution.
==Act of 1751==
The first Act, the Currency Act of 1751 (24 Geo. II c. 53), restricted the emission of paper money by the colonies of New England. These colonies had issued paper fiat money known as “bills of credit” to help pay for military expenses during the French and Indian Wars. Because more paper money was issued than what was taxed out of circulation, the currency depreciated in relation to the British pound sterling. The resultant inflation was harmful to merchants in Great Britain, who were forced to accept the depreciated currency from colonists for payment of debts .
The Act limited the future emission of bills of credit to certain circumstances. It allowed the existing bills to be used as legal tender for public debts (i.e. paying taxes), but disallowed their use for private debts (e.g. for paying merchants).
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_act, http://books.google.com/books?id=4d41AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA435&lpg=PA435&dq=1751+currency+act+month+and+date&source=bl&ots=fiqxBc8DTy&sig=kfIdjJiF75vyOm2WNja7GcVBcmc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-5PdUojBLYvNsQSHqYDQAw&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=1751%20currency%20act%20month%20and%20date&f=false