[ProgressingAmerica]

"A pity Franklin never thought of a way to stop the government from making dollars nearly worthless by printing trillions of them."

In this instance, you can't blame any U.S. government for doing that.

Untold amounts of Continental currency were counterfeited on purpose by the British Empire with the sole purpose of causing hyperinflation as a part of economic warfare. It worked. The fake bills unleashed in the colonies/states did what they were intended to do.

People still remember the phrase "it ain't worth a Continental", even if they don't really know why they know it or where they heard it.

[Reily]

The states/colonies also issued their own currency by the bushel full. Rhode Island was particularly notorious for doing this.