The economic and political climate in Colonial America mirrored some of the things we face in 2008. There were worries about war and the high costs of waging war (then it was the French and Indian War) and the economic situation could best be described as unstable.
Then as now, monies required for the public works, particularly when the government was spending more than it received, could not be gathered by raising taxes ‹ life was tough enough without having to pay even more taxes to their local governments.
What then were the money-raising options? Local authorities chose lotteries as a way to raise funds to meet what was viewed as necessary for the common good.
Military material was one reason for early lotteries. In 1746, men like Benjamin Franklin, worried about French attacks, supported a lottery scheme to raise monies for batteries for the defense of Philadelphia.
Another concern was education. In 1747, Thomas Clap, the president of Yale College, sent a letter to Yale trustees and members of the state assembly, extolling the wisdom of running a lottery to construct buildings to house students in New Haven. Clap's lobbying paid off ‹ the first Connecticut license for a lottery, in May of 1747, favored Yale and helped pay for Connecticut Hall, which still stands on the Yale campus today.
The amount of money Yale raised was less then the goal but it did lead to a belief by the legislature that a lottery was an honest way to raise funds; indeed, Connecticut held 20 lotteries in the next 25 years to finance everything from street lights in Hartford to a church in Stonington. Similar successful lotteries were held throughout Colonial America.
While some of the authorized lotteries in Colonial America supported some oddball and questionable schemes (money to replace funds stolen by the tax collector in Colchester,Ct.), many were used for building churches, bridges, streets, and schools.
Lotteries in the Colonial period did not cure all financial needs, but they did make a big contribution in providing funds for projects (some that yet exist) too costly to handle by local governments or private parties.
