KOSCIUSZKO AND POLAND'S FIRST PAPER MONEY

 

The last three decades of the 18th century saw Poland, part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, reduced from a large, prosperous country to a fractured region. Three partitions of the country, in 1772, 1793, and 1795, saw the territory annexed by its neighbors, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and after the last partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist for more than a century. (Poland would only return as an independent nation after World War I). The straw that broke the camel's back was the Kosciuszko Uprising of 1794, prompting the Third Partition and the complete dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. This uprising saw the first paper money of Poland issued. Its leader, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, was already a military hero who had played an important role fighting for the Continental Army during the American War for Independence.

Tadeusz Kosciuszko was born in February 1746 in modern-day Belarus, then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the youngest son of an army officer. In 1765, he enrolled in the Corps of Cadets in Warsaw to begin military training, eventually rising to the rank of captain and staying on as a lecturer. When civil war broke out in the Commonwealth in 1768, not wishing to choose a side, he left the country for France, where, over the next five years, he attended lectures and further developed his military knowledge while also being exposed to Enlightenment ideals. When he returned to Poland in 1774, he was unable to afford an officer's commission in the army and became a private tutor to a wealthy family. This lasted only a short time, and he emigrated once again, first to Saxony, but upon hearing about the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, he sailed for America in the summer of 1776.

Arriving without letters of recommendation, he took engineering exams, and his high marks earned him Benjamin Franklin's recommendation; he soon became a colonel of engineers in the Continental Army. For the next seven years, Kosciuszko played a vital role in establishing fortifications and, particularly, his minute attention to detail in constructing defenses at the Battle of Saratoga greatly helped the Continental Army, assuring victory. His engineering efforts during the Revolutionary War brought him to the attention of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. A close acquaintance later in life, Jefferson praised Kosciuszko as ‘as pure a son of Liberty as I have ever known, and of that Liberty which is to go to all, and not to the few or the rich alone.'

In 1784, still owed back pay from his time in the Continental Army, he returned to Poland. By the end of the decade, poor and in debt, he reluctantly applied for a royal commission, and in 1789, he became a major general. Kosciuszko soon found himself at the forefront of a last, desperate effort to save his homeland. In early 1794, he assumed leadership of the uprising that now bears his name. On March 24, in Kraków, he proclaimed a national insurrection and took command of all Polish forces. With limited resources, Kosciuszko ordered a general mobilization, even arming peasant volunteers with scythes because of a shortage of firearms. This appeal to all social classes paid immediate dividends, most notably at the Battle of Raclawice in April, where Polish forces achieved a symbolic victory that inspired further uprisings across the country, broadening support for the rebellion by promising relief from serfdom and greater legal protections for the peasantry. However, despite early successes and widespread enthusiasm, the uprising was ultimately overwhelmed by superior Russian and Prussian forces. Kosciuszko was wounded and captured in October 1794, and without his leadership, the resistance collapsed. He was imprisoned in Russia, and the Third Partition of Poland ended Polish sovereignty for over a century.

During the early days of the insurrection, from June to August of 1794, the Kosciuszko Uprising led to the issue of the nation's first paper money, Bilet Skarbowy, or Treasury Note. Backed by future taxes and the nation's property (including the silverware from its churches), the first series, dated June 8, was issued in seven denominations, ranging from 5 Zlotych to 1,000 Zlotych, and printed from engraved plates on colored paper in a vertical format. The design of the notes was similar across all denominations, including a blind stamp (often printed on counterfeits) that shows the motto of the insurrection, wolnosc calosc nie podleclosc (freedom, integrity, not submission), and the letters ‘B' and ‘S,' lightly printed (almost like a watermark). The first series was signed and numbered by hand, while the later issues were not numbered. As is often the case with paper money issued in lieu of coinage, hard coin soon traded at a premium over the notes, and the issuance of these notes no doubt would have led to massive inflation had the insurrection been successful. In July and September, with coins rapidly disappearing from circulation, an additional 4 Zlotych note and other lower denominations were also issued.

The Kosciuszko Uprising and the issuance of the nation's first paper money are a reminder of the last concerted attempt to preserve the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Tadeusz Kosciuszko died in 1817 at the age of 71 after falling off his horse in Switzerland, where he lived the last decade of his life. He had appointed Thomas Jefferson as the executor of his will and had stipulated that the proceeds of his American estate were to be used to buy the freedom of Jefferson's slaves. This did not happen, and antebellum politics involving slavery came into play, but it does show Tadeusz Kosciuszko's spirit and beliefs. For much of his life, he believed that liberty was indivisible and that political freedom was meaningless if it did not extend to all people equally. In this respect, his legacy reaches beyond the failed uprising of 1794, reflecting an enduring commitment to Enlightenment ideals that linked national independence, personal liberty, and social justice. Notes from this 1794 issue of Poland thus not only embody the spirit of Poland, but also that of the American Revolution, and the hero that Tadeusz Kosciuszko is in Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, and the United States.

Our Spring 2026 Maastricht Auction includes a number of notes of the historic 1794 issue of Poland from the collection of Kazmier Wysocki, former mayor of Hackensack, New Jersey.

To read the complete article, see:
The Link Between the American Revolution and Poland's First Paper Money (https://stacksbowers.com/the-link-between-the-american-revolution-and-polands-first-paper-money/)

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