I'm reading an old North Carolina newspaper from 1764 and it says that people in Wilmington burnt over 9,000 shillings worth of "Proclamation Money and Notes" from "the Sinking Fund" in front of both the House and Assembly of Wilmington. What does this mean? Is this an act of protest against Great Britain?
The Sinking Fund was a fund set aside by Parliament to repay bonds from the national debt as they came due, thus decreasing the debt. Sinking funds are still used by a lot of American states and local governments.
I'm not sure what "proclamation money" was, though.