The second Continental Congress voted to raise an army and issued the Continental dollar, which was to be exchangeable with the Spanish milled dollar at one to one. These dollars were printed on paper in anticipation of future tax revenue.
The original intent of the Continental Congress was to issue writs to the states, which the States would then honor by levying taxes. The Continental Congress had no direct authority for taxation, and the Articles of Confederation had weak taxation authority. The results were disastrous; rather than raise taxes, the states would run the presses and print currency of their own with which to pay taxes.
In addition to the States devaluing the currency to pay Continental Congress notes, the British captured a printing press in New York Harbor and started printing false Continentals to continue the devaluation. They even ran an ad in the New York newspapers offering to sell the counterfeit currency at rock bottom prices to loyal subjects of the Crown -- at the cost of the paper on which they were printed.