The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1881-09-08

faith ana credit OF the states which lss,ied
them and upon their recclvability for all debt.
and taxes due The States, tho same aa tic gold
and silver coin Ind been.
III proof Of these statements We refer 10 the
statements of Thomas JeHerfon, BENJAMIN
Franklin, John g. Calhoun aud Albert aalatin;
and IL the statutes Of tho states aud tile io,,r-
nAi Of the Continental Congress, in which
many references are made to this money then
existing In the states. Thh money performed
for the colonies oil the Offices Of gold and silver
coin. without their great cost and uncertainty.
Tile States which relied upon this money to the
greatest extent, and issued tho most Of II, be-
came rich III = few years and stood foremost In
the cause Of the Revolution. We name espe-
cially the States Of Massachusetts. Virginia and
cniisylvania.
Tins paper excited the onvy aud jealousy Of
Great Britain An order was made, tho nten-
ton Of which WAS to suppress this money and
compel return TO gold aud silver coin, or Bank
or England notes. which were the money Of En-
gland. Some OF the colonies obcyed the order,
tut with most Of them the orders emanatli,g
from the throne ceased to be effective. God
was preparing the colonies all this time for the
great revolution which should establish great
republic IN the Western world. No part OF
their education was moro important to them
than that relating 70 their lcgal-tendcr payer
money. II was the great key which unlocked
the temple OF freedom to them.
hut We are asked II this money WAS not
often at discount We answer, never in the
States issuing It. II was the money of account.
Gold and silver were valued hy ii, and, helng
articles OF merchandise, they were sometimes
high and sometimes low il depended upon
supply and demand, the same AZ other metals
and commodities.
At tho opening Of hostilities between Great
britain and the united colonies, from the best
estimate that could be made, there were moi
more than $1,000, 900 gold and silver coin in
the country. That com WAS distributed among
5000, 900 people, not being ~ per capita. II
this money could al have been collected from
the people, which Was an imposlibility, II
would have amounted to little or nothing In
the contest in which the States were about t.
engage. No revolution had ever been con-
Quoted by means OF . coin currency Something
els. had TO be depended upon. Our fathers
knew this. They prepared for the absence u
coin from the country. They knew 1t had al
ways been the friend Of the oppressor, bnt
never OF the oppressed. II had always sup
ported Kings Emperors and arstocrats. but
never tho people. They could not, therefore,
rely upon Il to support the revolution in which
they were about TO engage. II II could have
been procured, the States had not the means Of
procuring It.
Massachusetts, at first proposed that the ex-
penscs Of the contest should be borne by I'll,
States through their State issues, and By loan
made by them; but 1t was finally and wiscl,
determined that as State issues were not none,
all over the Union, but only in the States issullt
them, each having its own money, these issres
could not be relied upon to conduct a wa,
against the greatest nation Oh earth BY all thu
States combined. Il was, therefore, determined
that the notes TO conduct the war should i,
issued by the authority Of Congress, which
represented al the States.
The first Of these bills were issued in ITS
Ten millions Of dollars were emitted before til,
4th OF July, l776, when the Declaration OF In
dependence wAs adopted. In all, AZ the jour
nal Of Congress shows, e2O0, 0OO, 0OO, and II,
more, Of these notes were issued. They wer,
neither money, nor promise to pay money.
These notes authorized the holder to r.cei,,
their nominal value in Spanish milled dollar
or their value In either gold or silver coin Ln
they did not oblgate any individual, State O
nation to pay such dollars or other coin; but
strange to say. these notes remained ut pan
with coin for one whole year, and performed al
the functions of the best money i'll the world
We learn the following from the journal oi
the Continental Congress:
/. These notes frat began to depreciate in
l777. Congress charged British officers, hgI
IN rank, with having 10 extensively and ingcn
iously cOunterfeited these bills that il was dit
which genuine and after peace WAS declared
they demanded Of the British commander IN
New York the surrender OF these men for trial
This counterfeiting Of these bills excited the
tears Of the people and caused them to rejec
the notes, imposing upon Congress the neres-
atty OF redecming all the old notes and replac-
ing them with new ones.
2. These notes in the act creating them
were made payable not only III coin. hut III
Spanish dollars, which were st premium over
other coins. Il WAS very unwise to make them
payable In coin ut all. when the coin was not il
the country to redeem them, and there was no
means Of obtaining it. The notes should hav,
Congress- the states, and Ill the people to in-
sure their remaining par with coin.
S. The States should have conferred upon
Congress- the power to impose and collect
duties on imports aud internal taxes, and Con-
sress should have made the notes receivah,
therefor. This would have saved Congress III,
necessity OF issuing mere than Sl0O.0Op. 900.
As the notes came in for taxes and duties, they
could have been paid out to meet the demands
upon Congress for tho army and the civil
service. But these notes by the laws creating
them were not made receivable for any taA.s
except the taxes Of the States for their pay.
ment. Congress had No income. With them
il was all outgo. When demands were mad
upon them, al they could do To the last was 70
issue new bills, adding to the volume already
ont. The more they issued. the greater was
the discount upon them, until they finally Tell
to S20 Of bills for 81 Of coin.
1. The States should have conferred upo,,
Congress the power 10 make these notes legal
tender. Had they possessed this power they
would have used It But they did not possess
i. and the States were too jealous OF their own
powers to confer them upon general or cel-
,ral government. That Congress did not pos
sess or use, Or attemr. to use, this power, b.
fore the articles OF confederation or afterwald a,
previous to the ADOPTION OF the constitution, il
evident from the fact. ~ shown in the journal
Of Congress, that in lit. when the notes be-
gan to dopreclAtc, Congress called the attel,.
ton Of the States to this depreciation, aud ne.
quesfcd them TO DO for these bills what they
had done for their notes---to make them legal
tsnder-and thus 70 prevent their deprcciat On.
Ilcy would not have made this request II they
could have done Il themselves, but they asked
the states to do il. When We reflect upon ali
the causes Of the depreciation OF these hills,
the matter Of astonisLmcnt il not that the
notes deprecated. but that they were eve,
current at all. There were Shylocks in those
days - there arc now aud these bad men
were opposed TO giving the people freedom,
from Kings and from coin. They did all they
could to destroy these notes - tho same clasa
Of men now do to destroy the legal-tendei
notes.
The law creating them did not bind Congress
nor any national Government for their s.demp.
;ion. i provided that the payment OF til,
notes should DO divided among the States &C
coiding to population. Each state Ind ii,
portion assigned according to population
Never, until l779, did Congress pledge Iii.
faith Of the Unitcd States for the Redemption
VI those bills. Mis pledge was called forth
Lv the report which had been in circulation
that Congress never intended the payment Of
the notes. but were going to let them sink il
he hands Of the people. The States weg,
given four years after their first issue to com
nience redeeming the notes The only mean.
by which the bills conld get back into the
Continental treasury was through the treasur.
les Of the States.
Dii the States make these notes legal tend. ri
They did not As a general thing. There ar.
MANY reasons why this was not done.
\. Inc States were IN delicate position
relative to these notes. Each State was hound
for is share Of the bills according to popuia-
ton II one State had made the notes lega
tender aud mt the others, 1t would have beer
assuming debts Of all the other Slate. which
no one state wished To do.
Z Tho making of the bills legal tender IN
one State would not have made them loga
tender IN any other State. but would Aay.