from
The Lost Science of Money by Stephen Zarlenga:
“In
1652 Massachusetts defied the English Crown and allowed John Hull to open a
mint that produced the ‘tree coinage’ … Willow, oak and especially pine trees
featured on the coinage. The Massachusetts Assembly made the coinage legal
tender in the country.” (Who says ‘money doesn’t grow on trees!) p 366
“…
in 1690 Massachusetts embarked on a radical experiment and began to issue
‘Bills of Credit’, a form of paper money not backed by any physical thing.”
“Rather than being a debt
instrument, a promise to pay, they were in fact a promise to receive –
and thus an advanced money form.” P 367
“At
first, this paper money was not legal tender but everyone accepted it, and
though Massachusetts did not intend the bills as money, they immediately began
circulating as money, ending the colony’s distress.” P 367
“Other
colonies copied Masschusetts, emitting similar bills of credit. It was not
unusual for the bills on one colony to circulate in another. Invariably they
transformed life in the colonies, improving industry and commerce, helping to
build real infrastructure. The colonists accepted, welcomes and even demanded
them for use as money.” pages 368-9
“The
London group ‘The Lords of Trade and Plantation, charged with overseeing the
colonies, harassed the colonists’ paper money systems ...” p 374
“In
1727 the Lords of Trade began a series of monetary repressions. They ordered
bills of credit [in Massachusetts, to be withdrawn, and no new ones to be
issued…” p 374
“…
governor after governor did not enforce the Crown’s desires. English creditors
pressed for harsher sanctions, which passed in a 1751 Act, but proved hard to
enforce outside New England.” p 375
“More
than anything else it was the Lord of Trades monetary suppressions that led to
the Revolution.” p 377
Alexander
Del Mar: “… the narrow-minded and selfish London merchants and bankers … would
not permit the colonies to have their own monetary systems … accordingly orders
were sent to America to put down the colonial money and enforce the falsely
named ‘national’, but really private (English) money … it was the enforcement
of this policy that brought on the revolution.” p 377
“On
May 10, 1775, the first Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia.
Skirmishes with the British had occurred in Massachusetts. One of Congress’s
first concrete Acts (June 22) was to issue $2 million in bills of credit –
Continental Currency.”
“ …
the Continental Currency and the Revolution were inseparable.”
In
July 1776 the Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, the
greatest written document of the nation. They also issued a proclamation
declaring that anyone refusing to accept the Continental Currency was a public
enemy …” p 380
“Counterfeiting
was standard British procedure and used as a military weapon …” p 388
“The
Revolution established the Articles of Confederation as governing document of
the land in 1781. Its key monetary provision was in Article 9, giving Congress
the power to ‘emit bills of credit’ – fiat paper money like the Continental
Currency. But there were merchants (we didn’t have bankers yet) who wanted this
power for themselves. They grasped for it before, during and after the
Revolution.” P 389
“Robert
Morris (1734-1806) of the firm of Willing and Morris became the richest
merchant in America, from revolutionary war profits.” p 389
“He
then attempted to not only privatize the monetary power in the United States,
but to actually personalise it … First he transformed the Bank of Pennsylvania
into the Bank of North America, a bank of issue which could create money … “ p
390
“When
Pennsylvania moved to restart its excellent money system, the Bank of North
America under Morris and Willing tried to block her in order to monopolize the
issue of money.” p 391
“His
program on government borrowing also foreshadowed Hamilton’s Federalist program.
Morris preached that paper money had to be convertible to gold and silver and
that the money system must be based upon the “interest and influence of the
monied men.” p 391
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