The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 1 (of 9): Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and PrivateJefferson, Thomas
History
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 1 (of 9): Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private
Jefferson, Thomas
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1865
2. The Unit, or Dollar, is a known coin, and the most familiar of all,
to the minds of the people. It is already adopted from South to North;
has identified our currency, and therefore happily offers itself as a
Unit already introduced. Our public debt, our requisitions, and their
appointments, have given it actual and long possession of the place
of Unit. The course of our commerce, too, will bring us more of this
than of any other foreign coin, and therefore renders it more worthy
of attention. I know of no Unit which can be proposed in competition
with the Dollar, but the Pound. But what is the Pound? 1547 grains
of fine silver in Georgia; 1289 grains in Virginia, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire; 1031 1-4 grains in
Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; 966 3-4 grains in
North Carolina and New York. Which of these shall we adopt? To which
State give that pre-eminence of which all are so jealous? And on which
impose the difficulties of a new estimate of their corn, their cattle,
and other commodities? Or shall we hang the pound sterling, as a common
badge, about all their necks? This contains 1718 3-4 grains of pure
silver. It is difficult to familiarize a new coin to the people; it
is more difficult to familiarize them to a new coin with an old name.
Happily, the dollar is familiar to them all, and is already as much
referred to for a measure of value, as their respective provincial
pounds.
3. The tenth will be precisely the Spanish bit, or half pistereen. This
is a coin perfectly familiar to us all. When we shall make a new coin,
then, equal in value to this, it will be of ready estimate with the
people.
4. The hundredth, or copper, will differ little from the copper of
the four Eastern States, which is 1-108 of a dollar; still less from
the penny of New York and North Carolina, which is 1-96 of a dollar;
and somewhat more from the penny or copper of Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and Maryland, which is 1-90 of a dollar.
It will be about the medium between the old and the new coppers of
these States, and will therefore soon be substituted for them both.
In Virginia, coppers have never been in use. It will be as easy,
therefore, to introduce them there of one value as of another. The
copper coin proposed will be nearly equal to three-fourths of their
penny, which is the same with the penny lawful of the Eastern States.
A great deal of small change is useful in a State, and tends to reduce
the price of small articles. Perhaps it would not be amiss to coin
three more pieces of silver, one of the value of five-tenths, or half
a dollar, one of the value of two-tenths, which would be equal to the
Spanish pistereen, and one of the value of five coppers, which would be
equal to the Spanish half-bit. We should then have five silver coins,
viz.:
1. The Unit or Dollar:
2. The half dollar or five-tenths:
3. The double tenth, equal to 2, or one-fifth of a dollar, or to
the pistereen:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account