Lotteries in colonial America played a major part in financing both public and private ventures. A record two hundred lotteries being sanctioned between 1744 and 1776 and they played an important role in financing projects such as roads, libraries, churches and colleges including Princeton and Columbia Universities. During the French and Indian Wars, several colonies used lotteries to assist with the costs of building fortifications and supporting their local militia. In May 1758, the State of Massachusetts raised money with a lottery for the "Expedition against Canada".
Benjamin Franklin organized a lottery to purchase cannon to defend Philadelphia. Several of these lotteries offered prizes in the form of "Pieces of Eight" while in 1769 Colonel Bernard Moore's "Slave Lottery" advertised land and slaves as prizes. At the end of the Revolutionary War, various states resorted to lotteries in order to raise funds for various public projects. These lotteries were very successful for many years and greatly contributed to the nation's rapid growth with them funding projects such as Harvard College (a lottery in March, 1806) and many American churches raised badly-needed funds through state-authorized private lotteries.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the lottery began to be banned in many states and they would not rear their heads again until 1964, when they became immensely popular and flourished.
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