A Nation Of Counterfeiters By Stephen Mihm

Robber barons, famously known for their ruthless means of acquiring wealth back in the late nineteenth century. They were awful. They were complete menaces to society and only ever created wealth for themselves. Or, at least that 's what is commonly taught in high school American history classes, but author Burton Folsom Jr. offers an unique alternative perspective in his book, The Myth of the Robber Barons. He provides a closer look at the results achieved by these infamous robber barons to give insight into what actually happened in the wake of these entrepreneurs’ conducted business. Folsom uses seven chapters on separate industries ran by robber barons to show, at least from an overall economic view, The United States experienced a gross net benefit by the existence of robber barons.

To understand the reason, and perhaps necessity, for the conception of the Currency act of 1764, one must have a grasp of the economic situation in the American colonies prior to 1764. The currency used in the American colonies has always revolved around, specie or the two types of paper currency, legislatively issued legal tender or land bank notes (Finkelstein 39). Foreign specie was far more common than British specie, due to an export prohibition of British specie and an unfavorable balance of trade between the American colonies and Britain that drained whatever British specie

Did you know the first penney the u.S. has ever seen was created and produced in the year 1857? The penny we know of has been in the states for 161 years. In the year 2012 there was a proposal that the United States get rid of the penny, the least valuable coin in the money system. The penny has so little value, but cost too much to make. Although the U.S. loses millions of dollars a year to the production of pennies, American pennies should not be ceased minting because of the risk of economic changes,the piece of culture they each possess and their “ power in numbers”.

Prominent American leaders and politicians have been on United States paper currency for decades. These leaders made a lasting impression in American history in a significant amount of ways. Some notable mentions are Abraham Lincoln, who’s preservation of the Union and Emancipation Proclamation remains vital to the unified nation today and Alexander Hamilton’s advocation of the revised Constitution and influence in the modern day political system. However, the Great Emancipator and the founding father of the United States have respectively been on the currency for almost a century. Currently, there are heated debates about the portrait replacement of Ulysses S, Grant with Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill. Despite the opposition, the portraits on the United States currency should be replaced because it is the time of a new generation that begs for change.

Despite the nation’s increase in wealth through urbanization and the façade of a prospering people, the fraudulency of the Gilded Age crippled the masses in their rise to security. The competiveness amongst laborers, a battle for control of

Although Nathaniel Gorham was an astonishing political leader, who made great decisions for his nation, he did not serve in the newly formed government that resulted from the signing of the Constitution. He and Oliver Phelps from Windsor, Connecticut, wanted to buy six million acres of land in western New York, which at the time was not approved land. The price of this land was lessened to one million dollars in Massachusetts Scrip, the currency of Massachusetts, which worked out for Gorham and Phelps because they were able to sell it to settlers. When things seem to be going well, something bad is bound to happen. Gorham and Phelps were in deep because the value of the Scrip was increasing drastically, and they were facing difficulty in paying their required payments. The challenging struggle both men faced to come up with the money was known as Gorham’s insolvency. Gorham’s insolvency showed how his strong political

The political debate over the currency—tight money versus easy money—had equally bewildered early historians. Many Gilded Age farmers favored inflation to counteract the growing value of their debts after wheat and cotton prices nose-dived; some businessmen also liked easy money because low interest rates enabled them to expand operations. This issue tended to pit Westerners and Southerners, who needed cash for economic development, against the East, but it also had a powerful moral component. Those who favored a currency based on some intrinsic value such as gold stood divided from those who saw money as a flexible device for regulating the nation’s economic health. In the broadest sense, the currency debate highlighted the complexity of the national economy and the growing difference of opinion over the role of government in it. In 1964 Irwin Unger elucidated the subject in a Pulitzer Prize-winning analysis, The Greenback

Bridgeford-Smith, Jan. "MONEY, MORALITY and MADNESS." ["America's Civil War"]. America's Civil War, vol. 28, no. 4, Sept. 2015, pp. 46-53. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=103267901&site=hrc-live. Accessed 13 March 2017

Recognizing the injustices president Andrew Jackson performed, Americans have considered the dispute over the removal of Jackson 's face from the twenty dollar bill. The real question remains why place America 's figures in

The Gilded Age was a time in American history, from the 1870s to the 1890s, which ostensibly characterized the country based on its economic and technological advancements. However this era’s development served as a mere facade for the corruption and classism which occurred during the time. From economic manipulation to immorality in politics, the Gilded Age is best characterized by the unscrupulous nature of individuals who sought to attain superficial success.

The bank provided credit to growing enterprises, issued bank notes which served as a dependable medium of exchange throughout the country, and it exercised a restraining effect on the less well manages state banks. Nicholas Biddle, who ran the Bank, tried to put the institution on a sound and prosperous basis. But Andrew Jackson was always determined to destroy it (Brinkley, 249). The Bank had two opposition groups: the “soft-money” faction and the “hard-money” faction. Soft money advocates objected to the Bank of the United States because it restrained the state banks from issuing notes freely. Hard money advocates believed that coin was the only safe currency, and they condemned all banks that issued bank notes.

Accurately established by many historians, the capitalists who shaped post-Civil War industrial America were regarded as corrupt “robber barons”. In a society in which there was a severe imbalance in the dynamics of the economy, these selfish individuals viewed this as an opportunity to advance in their financial status. Thus, they acquired fortunes for themselves while purposely overseeing the struggles of the people around them. Presented in Document A, “as liveried carriage appear; so do barefooted children”, proved to be a true description of life during the 19th century. In hopes of rebuilding America, the capitalists’ hunger for wealth only widened the gap between the rich and poor.

The famous counterfeiter, Benjamin Boyd, was caught red-handed in the making of the front of a 20 dollar bill. Boyd is a talented engraver, his best work was a five-dollar bill that some experts couldn’t tell was fake. Ben father was also an excellent engraver, and wanted his son to be skilled enough to take over the family business, so he set Ben up to study with one of the city's best engravers, and his name was Nat Kinsey. Little did Ben’s father know, Nat Kinsey also cut plates to print counterfeit money. Ben was tempted by the idea of making money and learned quickly from Kinsey. When Ben was twenty he cut his first two plates: the front and the back of a 20 dollar bill.

hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender was promptly reduced to ashes and smoke” (P. 29). Chris

Words can influence the mind in many ways that thought may not be able to. They are carefully placed and shared in different ways by each and every individual. Words have powerful impacts and can majorly impact how one may think, feel, or even lead others to feel. Written by Markus Zusak, “The Book Thief” describes a story of an innocent foster girl, Liesel Meminger, who resides in Munich, Germany at one of the most troubling time periods in history, Nazi Germany. A tale narrated by the one and only Death himself, shows the perspective from his point of view, as well as others, describing how Liesel had been seized away from her birth mother at a young age, and put into a foster family. Her new family, the Hubermanns. As she matures and grows into a more critical thinker, understanding and analyzing everything that carefully happens around her. Her foster-father, Hans guides her and teaches her how to read, which little does she know sparks her journey, the art of stealing books. Liesel soon discovers that words aren 't simply lines on a page, they are strong emotions packed into a form that merely is held in her delicate hands. Not only did she hold the pages of emotion, she held a power, a dangerous weapon of words, a weapon of control, and every book that she had stolen was giving her unimaginable power that made her think in ways that she would’ve never thought she could have. As with Nazi propaganda, and a gift that enabled her to broaden her worldview. Liesel evolves