A Brief History of American’s Economic Destruction
Lets take a little trip down memory lane. The year is 1791. America’s independence has just been recently won, and we are facing a new century – broken, bleeding, poor, and scarred.
Even thouSee full size imagegh the country was not even fully shaped yet, the monetary battles that would rear their ugly heads for centuries to come, began to take shape. There were over 50 forms of currency in use, and very few of them were actually worth anything. Soldiers who had been promised lands for their service to the country, suppliers who has done what they could to keep the new nation fed, clothed, sheltered, and armed during the war for independence, and land owners who had lost the usability of their land were all wondering when their compensation would come. George Washington was called upon to stamp down a rebellion for a tax imposed on Whiskey. Soldiers threatened to March on Washington DC should they not meet their end of the deal to compensate.
In short, we were a perfect mess. So much so that Britain was not really taking us that seriously at all, even though we had technically won the war.
The core of many of these problems was the monetary supply. Independence was gained, but at a very high cost. We had no gold reserves to speak of, and textiles, furs, and agriculture were our only real exports. Our founders knew that we must adapt a monetary supply that could meet these needs given what we had, and that it must be done quickly.
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