Sunday, May 31, 2015

Early U.S. Government Borrowing

A Nation of Deadbeats mentions someone proposing that future U.S. government bonds should have

the following Devices inscribed upon [them] according to [their] denomination. 1. The bloody arm of a soldier. 2. The wooden leg of a soldier. ... 5. A continental colonel's widow with six children dining on a salted herring and two potatoes. 6. A continental major begging his bread with his family on the way to Kentucky. 7. A continental captain confined in gaol for a debt of 50 shillings. 8. A speculator driving his carriage over a soldier on a pair of crutches, in the streets of Philadelphia. ... 15. A Ring to denote the irredeemability of the public debt, or that the evils produced by the certificates will have no end.
The quote seems to have been circa 1790. Amazingly prescient prediction from small sample size (couple years post-ratification).

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