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Starting from methodological considerations on the history of political economy since the 17th century, the article focuses on a remarkable moment in financial economics. While the French project of assignats had to be declared a failure in February 1797, the English Bank Restriction Act, which prohibited the conversion of banknotes into precious metal, was perceived at the same time as a watershed moment and a challenge for economic analysis. German romantics considered the English experiment – in contrast to the French revolutionary money – as a project with a great future, in which circulating state credit and new theories of credit became the model for a modernization of concepts of economic, political and social systems. JEL Classification: B150, B170. B400 N230.