Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/Professor_Barth If you enjoy this channel and want to support: www.patreon.com/professorbarth Buy my book: www.amazon.com/Currency-Empire-Seventeenth-Century-English-America-ebook/dp/B08L6ZPV19/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=currency+of+empire&sr=8-1 History of Money playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PLinliDgP9EbScxfH5wxoX8I_HNRSElqZ_.html Foundations of Western Political Thought playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PLinliDgP9EbRu4qZn8SJFgysSQB5I4c-L.html
@@ProfessorBarth I love coins so I am fascinating with Gold/Silver. I just learned about the 1934 Silver Purchase Act (promoted by Pittman) which led to The US overpaying for Silver...which artificially drove the price of silver up. China was on the Silver Standard so China’s economy was destroyed and hyperinflation led to Mao.
@@ProfessorBarth confusing part to me is we were buying all that silver to subsidize the Silver Industry. But we discontinued the Silver Peace Dollar in 1935 due to low demand. Silver was not valuable or desired so people did not want it. But, gold was illegal to own after 1933. So I guess the main currency of the day was 90% Half Dollars, Quarters, Dimes. Maybe the US wanted people to focus more on paper Money. Very interesting.
Excellent lecture, thanks for making it available to us.. Request more analysis of greenback inflation leading to the crash of 1873. Same thing happening today, 2020 covid inflation leads to crash of 2025
Awesome work professor. Teaching about this in my own class. Great input on Knox vs. Lee. Lesson: Fake money is only okay if the Fed does it. How fitting for our current economy running on MMT.
Money printer will save all issue. (Insert sarcasm here). This will be one of those things they teach about in history/econ class, "well we knew it was a bad idea but we did it anyway."
can you explain the usage of the asset side of the banks balancesheet. Did the national banks accept deposits in coins and banknotes or only coins. What did they issue the banknotes for. what is the difference between the loans they lent and the banknotes they issued, are these ;loans in coins or banknotes they issued. Did they buy the federal bonds in coins or banknotes. If only coins then what is the use of issuing banknotes if the coins covering it in full are used to purchase federal bonds. I really benefited a lot of your lectures but these questions confused me a little bit. I believe that any one studying economics should watch and study your lectures, thank you for this effort
Another excellent key video in the series, IMO, but needs to go a little bit further until the final "Legal Tender Case" (a string of 9 cases), Juilliard v. Greenman (1884). In short, regardless as to what metal Congress uses to coin money, Greenbacks (i.e., legal tender U.S. Notes) must always be redeemable for that coined money, and this is because paper (and digital) money is authorized by the Constitution's Borrowed Money Clause (1:8:2), not the Coinage Clause (1:8:5). Chase's Civil War Greenbacks were not redeemable, which is why he had to rule them unconstitutional in the 1870 Hepburn case.
Any government that does not issue and control its money is ruled by those who do. It was recognized in Athens and Sparta ten centuries before the birth of Christ that one of the most vital prerogatives of democratic self-governance was the sole right to issue money to fulfill its proper role as the distributive mechanism of society. To allow it to become a source of revenue to private issuers is to create, first, a secret and illicit arm of the government and, last, a rival power strong enough ultimately to overthrow all other forms of government.
Farmers were getting choked out by the fees the railroads charged them. It forced the cost of produce down and farther driving the debts incurred by the farmers.
I'm not sure if this is a dumb question, but since greenbacks are legal tender, could they be used to settle debts? What is to stop someone from say, taking a loan from a bank with national bank notes, then repaying the loan with green backs , and pocketing the discounted rates that greenbacks had? If you could not use greenbacks to repay debt obligations, then how were they considered legal tender?
Not a dumb question at all -- you could settle any debt denominated in dollars (regardless of the currency) with greenbacks. There is one possible (and very important) exception that may have prevented what you're describing, and I'd have to look into it further (my own research precedes this period). Specialty contracts, from time to time, would be drawn up by lenders to specify what type of payment a debtor could settle his loan. For example, when free-silver agitation was at a peak, some lenders began specifying in contracts that the debtor agrees only to repay in gold. As borrower, you agreed to the loan on that condition. I suspect that this was not uncommon in the 1870s. I'll have to look further. Keep in mind, however, that soon after 1875, greenbacks circulated at or close to par with gold, as it was clear that the government would honor them at that price.
HENRY CAREY, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN Carey was the major proponent in the Lincoln Administration of issuing debt-free US money, Greenbacks. In referencing the US economy under the Greenback system, he said, …”for the first time, too, in the history of the world, there has been presented a community in which nearly all business was done for cash, and in which debt has scarcely an existence…there has been a large and general diminution of the rate of interest…traders have therefore become more independent of the capitalist, while the country at large has become more independent of the ‘wealthy capitalists’ of Europe.”
The actual advisors of Lincoln were Joseph Seligman and August Belmont. Throughout his political life, Lincoln supported the central-bank concept, and bank notes as money. In 1863, as president, he stated in writing that he considered banknotes, based on government bonds, the best currency the nation may have.
@@m93p Yup, Greenbacks are another case of Lincoln being forced into having to do the right thing. The bankers hated them because they eliminated debt, which is what money should do, and it puts more money into the real economy instead of the Wall Street speculative economy where most of it goes today, enriching the ruling class.
Follow me on Twitter:
twitter.com/Professor_Barth
If you enjoy this channel and want to support:
www.patreon.com/professorbarth
Buy my book:
www.amazon.com/Currency-Empire-Seventeenth-Century-English-America-ebook/dp/B08L6ZPV19/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=currency+of+empire&sr=8-1
History of Money playlist:
ua-cam.com/play/PLinliDgP9EbScxfH5wxoX8I_HNRSElqZ_.html
Foundations of Western Political Thought playlist:
ua-cam.com/play/PLinliDgP9EbRu4qZn8SJFgysSQB5I4c-L.html
Your videos are awesome. I’m learning and plan to pass on the knowledge to others.
Glad you like them!
@@ProfessorBarth I love coins so I am fascinating with Gold/Silver. I just learned about the 1934 Silver Purchase Act (promoted by Pittman) which led to The US overpaying for Silver...which artificially drove the price of silver up. China was on the Silver Standard so China’s economy was destroyed and hyperinflation led to Mao.
@@ProfessorBarth confusing part to me is we were buying all that silver to subsidize the Silver Industry. But we discontinued the Silver Peace Dollar in 1935 due to low demand. Silver was not valuable or desired so people did not want it. But, gold was illegal to own after 1933. So I guess the main currency of the day was 90% Half Dollars, Quarters, Dimes. Maybe the US wanted people to focus more on paper Money. Very interesting.
@@ProfessorBarthhow this greenback policy would work ?
Excellent lecture, thanks for making it available to us.. Request more analysis of greenback inflation leading to the crash of 1873. Same thing happening today, 2020 covid inflation leads to crash of 2025
We discussed the Erie RR scandal and Vanderbilt vs. Fisk/Gould/Drew in American Business History. Your videos are awesome.
Thank you Martin
Professor, could you also do book talks? (E.g. books that everyone should read to understand money, etc.)
Awesome work professor. Teaching about this in my own class. Great input on Knox vs. Lee. Lesson: Fake money is only okay if the Fed does it. How fitting for our current economy running on MMT.
and another round of stimulus coming!
Money printer will save all issue. (Insert sarcasm here). This will be one of those things they teach about in history/econ class, "well we knew it was a bad idea but we did it anyway."
can you explain the usage of the asset side of the banks balancesheet. Did the national banks accept deposits in coins and banknotes or only coins. What did they issue the banknotes for.
what is the difference between the loans they lent and the banknotes they issued, are these ;loans in coins or banknotes they issued. Did they buy the federal bonds in coins or banknotes. If only coins then what is the use of issuing banknotes if the coins covering it in full are used to purchase federal bonds. I really benefited a lot of your lectures but these questions confused me a little bit. I believe that any one studying economics should watch and study your lectures, thank you for this effort
Great video, what was the Bank of England position on the Greenback?
Not sure, good question! You would think they probably weren't in favor of it, but that's just a hunch.
@@ProfessorBarth my hunch as well. I am assuming they would have been angling for a Federal Reserve type system.
Another excellent key video in the series, IMO, but needs to go a little bit further until the final "Legal Tender Case" (a string of 9 cases), Juilliard v. Greenman (1884). In short, regardless as to what metal Congress uses to coin money, Greenbacks (i.e., legal tender U.S. Notes) must always be redeemable for that coined money, and this is because paper (and digital) money is authorized by the Constitution's Borrowed Money Clause (1:8:2), not the Coinage Clause (1:8:5). Chase's Civil War Greenbacks were not redeemable, which is why he had to rule them unconstitutional in the 1870 Hepburn case.
Any government that does not issue and control its money is ruled by those who do. It was recognized in Athens and Sparta ten centuries before the birth of Christ that one of the most vital prerogatives of democratic self-governance was the sole right to issue money to fulfill its proper role as the distributive mechanism of society. To allow it to become a source of revenue to private issuers is to create, first, a secret and illicit arm of the government and, last, a rival power strong enough ultimately to overthrow all other forms of government.
Farmers were getting choked out by the fees the railroads charged them. It forced the cost of produce down and farther driving the debts incurred by the farmers.
I'm not sure if this is a dumb question, but since greenbacks are legal tender, could they be used to settle debts?
What is to stop someone from say, taking a loan from a bank with national bank notes, then repaying the loan with green backs , and pocketing the discounted rates that greenbacks had?
If you could not use greenbacks to repay debt obligations, then how were they considered legal tender?
Not a dumb question at all -- you could settle any debt denominated in dollars (regardless of the currency) with greenbacks. There is one possible (and very important) exception that may have prevented what you're describing, and I'd have to look into it further (my own research precedes this period). Specialty contracts, from time to time, would be drawn up by lenders to specify what type of payment a debtor could settle his loan. For example, when free-silver agitation was at a peak, some lenders began specifying in contracts that the debtor agrees only to repay in gold. As borrower, you agreed to the loan on that condition. I suspect that this was not uncommon in the 1870s. I'll have to look further. Keep in mind, however, that soon after 1875, greenbacks circulated at or close to par with gold, as it was clear that the government would honor them at that price.
Issued without debt/interest
HENRY CAREY, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Carey was the major proponent in the Lincoln Administration of issuing debt-free US money, Greenbacks. In referencing the US economy under the Greenback system, he said, …”for the first time, too, in the history of the world, there has been presented a community in which nearly all business was done for cash, and in which debt has scarcely an existence…there has been a large and general diminution of the rate of interest…traders have therefore become more independent of the capitalist, while the country at large has become more independent of the ‘wealthy capitalists’ of Europe.”
The actual advisors of Lincoln were Joseph Seligman and August Belmont.
Throughout his political life, Lincoln supported the central-bank concept, and bank notes as money. In 1863, as president, he stated in writing that he considered banknotes, based on government bonds, the best currency the nation may have.
@@m93p Yup, Greenbacks are another case of Lincoln being forced into having to do the right thing. The bankers hated them because they eliminated debt, which is what money should do, and it puts more money into the real economy instead of the Wall Street speculative economy where most of it goes today, enriching the ruling class.
Prof. You deserve to be paid in cash in McKinley, Cleveland & Solmon P. Chase certificates.
I'll take it!
@@ProfessorBarth even confederate money has numismatic value. You’re too cool for school teach.
You mean the crime of 73'
Gang Precious Metals anyone?
Based
Look up Robert breaker n chuck missler on UA-cam