The Financial History of Virginia, 1609-1776 Volume 4, No. 1

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V. HARD MONEY. Early Systems. The current impression, even among historians, is that hard money and specie played a very subordinate role in the American colonies. A vast amount of loose writing has been bestowed on the peculiar systems of exchange which prevailed in different places. And much labor has been expended in compiling histories of paper currencies. The subject of hard money, however, is generally dismissed with the remark that it was very scarce, and that all trade was carried on by means of wampum or barter. It is undoubtedly true that there was a great scarcity of any circulating medium in nearly all of these colonies. The records are f1lled with complaints of the inconveniences and abuses which followed as a consequence; and this is doubtless the main reason for the general impression which prevails. But instead of warranting a total neglect of the subject, it is rather a very urgent reason for seeking to know the few details which are attainable. In fact it is a trite saying, that it is not the excellence, but the very defects of any system which lead men to write of it. Because hard money was so difficult to obtain and to keep in circulation, the utmost ingenuity was exercised as a matter of necessity in the attempt to solve the problem. There is, therefore, we submit, every reason to expect that the history of the struggles of legislators to grapple with the inexorable forces of specie gravitation may prove of considerable scientif1c interest. The very scarcity of coin and bullion served to render it all the more susceptible to the influence of hidden forces; the ip8 108 effects were exaggerated by this means; and the intimate relations between money and trade were made more evident. In Virginia there-is an...