In western Pennsylvania's cash-scarce economy, distillation converted surplus grain into a durable exchange good, but whiskey circulated alongside flour, livestock, grains, labor, and other commodities rather than serving as the sole or universal currency.
Verified against searchable text and rendered PDF sheet 78 / printed p. 71.
This is a secondary synthesis based partly on local records. Particular transactions could still price or settle obligations in whiskey; corroborate with account books before broad quantitative use.
Slaughter combines small-still prevalence, grain-conversion logic, petition language, and a contemporary barter advertisement. The evidence supports an important exchange function while qualifying a popular universal-currency shorthand.
Created during exhaustive full-source processing of LOCAL-056.