English Privy Council Quotes
The crown has the sole right to issue money.
English Privy Council, 1603
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
See {583710} for his grandchild’s variation.
At the time there was no national paper money. Individual banks printed their own and paper money was not accepted or heavily discounted most Americans. Most opposed a tender law that required paper money to be accepted in commerce.
This is the first major history of banks written in the United States.
At the time, there was no United States currency. Private banks in some of the states issued their own money. A dollar from Georgia might only be worth 75 cents in New York.
At the time any private bank could issue their own money. Private sector bankers thought it outrageous that the Congress should consider trampling on their rights to issue money. The solution that was finally adopted some years later was to use the Federal Reserve Board to control the money supply. It is independent of the Congress and the President but members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Our system, like no other system, is a compromise where neither the Government or the Private Sector controls the American money supply.
The alternative would have been for the colonies to borrow English money at high interest rates and use that. Or use money from private banks (which occurred later.) Many conservatives are today a little shocked that some of the American Colonies just printed money with no backing but it worked—at least at the local level. A Boston Bank for example, would take a large commission for a Bostonian to convert Pennsylvania money into Massachusetts money. So it was not a very good system for trade between colonies and International trade. But English money was used for that. The colonists pragmatically got the “best of both worlds” and paid as little interest as they needed to. This system is essentially what we use today on a national scale with no gold or silver backing of the money.
There has always been a fear of inflation and currency debasement by governments. Since ancient times, rulers issued coins and when they were made of cheap metals like copper or iron, the ruler could mint as much as he wanted and when he did so the value went down. By using only precious metals, gold and silver, for coins, there would be a natural restraint on government. Garfield was one of those who believed that we should always have money of gold and silver. The United States would use that principle for the next century even backing its paper money with gold and silver. In the Nixon administration the United States abandoned the gold standard. Today, it is the ability of a country to produce things that maintains value of paper money which has been supplanted in many cases by electronic money.
America had a difficult early history with money—especially paper money which had been issued by private banks but were trusted by few. Paper money had for the first time had been issued by the Federal Government during the Civil War. Many saw it as a wartime measure but not a good practice to follow. Garfield, along with many other leaders thought that it was not constitutional for Congress to issue paper money. Others prevailed as the need for a lighter and more practical form of currency was necessitated by a growing economy. Coins for large transactions between businesses especially was very awkward when chests of coins had to be delivered to pay for cattle, produce or manufactured goods at the wholesale level.
The Privy Council of England, also known as His (or Her) Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council (Latin: concilium familiare, concilium privatum et assiduum), was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England. Its members were often senior members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, together with leading churchmen, judges, diplomats and military leaders.
