Easy Money
American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency
1st Edition
Published on 29. March 2023
304 pages
978-0-226-82511-3 (ISBN)
Description
A sweeping history of the American invention of modern money.Economists endlessly debate the nature of legal tender monetary systems-coins and bills issued by a government or other authority. Yet the origins of these currencies have received little attention.Dror Goldberg tells the story of modern money in North America through the Massachusetts colony during the seventeenth century. As the young settlement transitioned to self-governance and its economy grew, the need to formalize a smooth exchange emerged. Printing local money followed.Easy Money illustrates how colonists invented contemporary currency by shifting its foundation from intrinsically valuable goods-such as silver-to the taxation of the state. Goldberg traces how this structure grew into a worldwide system in which, monetarily, we are all Massachusetts. Weaving economics, law, and American history, Easy Money is a new touchstone in the story of monetary systems.
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03/2023
University of Chicago Press
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Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I: Introductions
- Chapter One - Introduction to the Book
- Chapter Two - Money and Its Inventions: Theoretical Considerations
- Chapter Three - England in the Late Sixteenth Century
- Part II: The Atlantic
- Chapter Five - Before 1630: Harvesters of Money
- Chapter Six - The Puritan Exodus, 1629- 1640: General Features
- Chapter Seven - Massachusetts Takes the Monetary Lead, 1630- 1640
- Chapter Eight - A New Hope, 1640- 1660
- Chapter Nine - The Empire Strikes Back, 1660- 1686
- Chapter Ten - Governments and Paper Money Projects, 1685- 1689
- Chapter Eleven - The Massachusetts Legislator: The Case of Elisha Hutchinson
- Chapter Twelve - The Return of the General Court, 1689- 1690
- Summary of Part II
- Part III: A Monetary Revolution
- Chapter Thirteen - The Legal Tender Law, 1690
- Chapter Fourteen - Aftermath, 1691- 1692
- Chapter Fifteen - Back to England's FinancialRevolution, 1692- 1700
- Chapter Sixteen - Analysis
- Chapter Seventeen - Conclusion
- Notes
- References
- Index
