prevent the coin from wearing too fast; too much, fills our pockets with
copper, instead of silver. The silver coin assayed by Sir Isaac Newton,
varied from 1 1/2 to 76 pennyweights alloy, in the pound troy of mixed
metal. The British standard has 18 dwt.; the Spanish coins assayed by
Sir Isaac Newton, have from 18 to 19 1/2 dwt.; the new French crown has
in fact 19 1/2, though by edict it should have 20 dwt., that is 1/12.
The taste of our countrymen will require, that their furniture plate
should be as good as the British standard. Taste cannot be controlled
by law. Let it then give the law, in a point which is indifferent to a
certain degree. Let the Legislatures fix the alloy of furniture plate
at 18 dwt., the British standard, and Congress that of their coin at one
ounce in the pound, the French standard. This proportion has been found
convenient for the alloy of gold coin, and it will simplify the system
of our mint to alloy both metals in the same degree. The coin too, being
the least pure, will be the less easily melted into plate. These reasons
are light, indeed, and, of course, will only weigh, if no heavier ones
can be opposed to them.
The proportion between the values of gold and silver is a mercantile
problem altogether. It would be inaccurate to fix it by the popular
exchanges of a half Joe for eight dollars, a Louis for four French
crowns, or five Louis for twenty-three dollars. The first of these,
would be to adopt the Spanish proportion between gold and silver;
the second, the French; the third, a mere popular barter, wherein
convenience is consulted more than accuracy. The legal proportion in
Spain is 16 for 1; in England, 15 1/2 for 1; in France, 15 for 1.
The Spaniards and English are found, in experience, to retain an over
proportion of gold coins, and to lose their silver. The French have a
greater proportion of silver. The difference at market has been on the
decrease. The Financier states it at present, as at 141/2 for one. Just
principles will lead us to disregard legal proportions altogether; to
inquire into the market price of gold, in the several countries with
which we shall principally be connected in commerce, and to take an
average from them. Perhaps we might, with safety, lean to a proportion
somewhat above par for gold, considering our neighborhood and commerce
with the sources of the coins, and the tendency which the high price
of gold in Spain has, to draw thither all that of their mines, leaving
silver principally for our and other markets. It is not impossible that
15 for 1, may be found an eligible proportion. I state it, however, as a
conjecture only.
As to the alloy for gold coin, the British is an ounce in the pound; the
French, Spanish, and Portuguese differ from that, only from a quarter of
a grain, to a grain and a half. I should, therefore, prefer the
British, merely because its fraction stands in a more simple form, and
facilitates the calculations into which it enters.
Should the Unit be fixed at 365 grains of pure silver, gold at 15 for 1,
and the alloy of both be one twelfth, the weights of the coins will be
as follows:
[Illustration: Projected Coin Weights, page138]
The quantity of fine silver which shall constitute the Unit,
being-settled, and the proportion of the value of gold, to that of
silver; a table should be formed from the assay before suggested,
classing the several foreign coins according to their fineness,
declaring the worth of a pennyweight or grain in each class, and that
they shall be lawful tenders at those rates, if not clipped or otherwise
diminished; and where diminished, offering their value for them at the
mint, deducting the expense of re-coinage. Here the Legislatures should
co-operate with Congress, in providing that no money be received or paid
at their treasuries, or by any of their officers, or any bank, but on
actual weight; in making it criminal, in a high degree, to diminish
their own coins, and, in some smaller degree, to offer them in payment
when diminished.
That this subject may be properly prepared and in readiness for Congress
to take up at their meeting in November, something must now be done. The
present session drawing to a close, they probably would not choose to
enter far into this undertaking themselves. The Committee of the States,
however, during the recess, will have time to digest it thoroughly, if
Congress will fix some general principles for their government. Suppose
they be instructed,--
To appoint proper persons to assay and examine, with the utmost
accuracy practicable, the Spanish milled dollars of different dates in
circulation with us.
To assay and examine, in like manner, the fineness of all the other
coins which may be found in circulation within these states.
To report to the Committee the result of these assays, by them to be
laid before Congress.
To appoint, also, proper persons to inquire what are the proportions
between the values of fine gold and fine silver, at the markets of the
several countries with which we are, or probably may be, connected in
commerce; and what would be a proper proportion here, having regard
to the average of their values at those markets, and to other
circumstances, and to report the same to the Committee, by them to be
laid before Congress.
To prepare an Ordinance for establishing the Unit of Money within these
States; for subdividing it; and for striking coins of gold, silver, and
copper, on the following principles.
That the Money Unit of these States shall be equal in value to a Spanish
milled dollar containing so much fine silver as the assay, before
directed, shall show to be contained, on an average, in dollars of the
several dates in circulation with us.
That this Unit shall be divided into tenths and hundredths; that there
shall be a coin of silver of the value of a Unit; one other of the same
metal, of the value of one tenth of a Unit; one other of copper, of the
value of the hundredth of a Unit.
That there shall be a coin of gold of the value of ten units, according
to the report before directed, and the judgment of the Committee
thereon.
That the alloy of the said coins of gold and silver shall be equal in
weight to one eleventh part of the fine metal.
That there be proper devices for these coins.
That measures be proposed for preventing their diminution, and also
their currency, and that of any others, when diminished.
That the several foreign coins be described and classed in the said
Ordinance, the fineness of each class stated, and its value by weight
estimated in Units and decimal parts of Units.
And that the said draught of an Ordinance be reported to Congress at
their next meeting, for their consideration and determination.
Supplementary Explanations.
The preceding notes having been submitted to the consideration of the
Financier, he favored me with his opinion and observations on them,
which render necessary the following supplementary explanations.
I observed in the preceding notes, that the true proportion of value
between gold and silver was a mercantile problem altogether, and that,
perhaps, fifteen for one, might be found an eligible proportion. The
Financier is so good as to inform me, that this would be higher than
the market would justify. Confident of his better information on this
subject, I recede from that idea.*
* In a Newspaper, which frequently gives good details in political
economy, I find, under the Hamburg head, that the present market
price of Gold and Silver is, in England, 15.5 for 1: in Russia, 15: in
Holland, 14.75: in Savoy, 14.96: in Fiance, 14.42: in Spain, 14.3: in
Germany, 14.155: the average of which is 14.615 or 14 1/2. I would still
incline to give a little more than the market price for gold, because of
its superior convenience in transportation.
He also informs me, that the several coins in circulation among us, have
already been assayed with accuracy, and the result published in a work
on that subject. The assay of Sir Isaac Newton had superseded, in my
mind, the necessity of this operation as to the older coins, which were
the subject of his examination. This later work, with equal reason, may
be considered as saving the same trouble as to the latter coins.
So far, then, I accede to the opinions of the Financier. On the other
hand, he seems to concur with me, in thinking his smallest fractional
division too minute for a Unit, and, therefore, proposes to transfer
that denomination to his largest silver coin, containing 1000 of the
units first proposed, and worth about 4s. 2d. lawful, or 25/36 of a
dollar. The only question then remaining between us is, whether the
Dollar, or this coin, be best for the Unit. We both agree that the ease
of adoption with the people, is the thing to be aimed at.
1. As to the Dollar, events have overtaken and superseded the question.
It is no longer a doubt whether the people can adopt it with ease; they
have adopted it, and will have to be turned out of that, into another
track of calculation, if another Unit be assumed. They have now two
Units, which they use with equal facility, viz. the Pound of their
respective state, and the Dollar. The first of these is peculiar to each
state; the second, happily, common to all. In each state, the people
have an easy rule for converting the pound of their state into dollars,
or dollars into pounds; and this is enough for them, without knowing how
this may be done in every state of the Union. Such of them as live near
enough the borders of their state to have dealings with their neighbors,
learn also the rule of their neighbors: Thus, in Virginia and the
Eastern States, where the dollar is 6s. or 3/10 of a pound, to turn
pounds into dollars, they multiply by 10, and divide by 3. To turn
dollars into pounds, they multiply by 3, and divide by 10. Those in
Virginia who live near to Carolina, where the dollar is 8s. or 4/10 of
a pound, learn the operation of that state, which is a multiplication
by 4, and division by 10, _et e converso_. Those who live near Maryland,
where the dollar is 7s. 6d. or 3/8 of a pound, multiply by 3, and divide
by 8, _et e converso_. All these operations are easy, and have been
found by experience, not too much for the arithmetic of the people,
when they have occasion to convert their old Unit into dollars, or the
reverse.
2. As to the Unit of the Financier; in the States where the dollar is
3/10 of a pound, this Unit will be 5/24. Its conversion into the pound
then, will be by a multiplication by 5, and a division by 24. In the
States where the dollar is 3/8 of a pound, this Unit will be 25/96 of
a pound, and the operation must be to multiply by 25, and divide by 96,
_et e converso_. Where the dollar is 4/10 of a pound, this Unit will
be 5/18. The simplicity of the fraction, and of course the facility
of conversion and reconversion, is therefore against this Unit, and in
favor of the dollar, in every instance. The only advantage it has over
the dollar, is, that it will in every case express our farthing without
a remainder; whereas, though the dollar and its decimals will do this
in many cases, it will not in all. But, even in these, by extending your
notation one figure farther, to wit, to thousands, you approximate a
perfect accuracy within less than the two thousandth part of a dollar;
an atom in money which every one would neglect. Against this single
inconvenience, the other advantages of the dollar are more than
sufficient to preponderate. This Unit will present to the people a new
coin, and whether they endeavor to estimate its value by comparing it
with a Pound, or with a Dollar, the Units they now possess, they will
find the fraction very compound, and of course less accommodated to
their comprehension and habits than the dollar. Indeed the probability
is, that they could never be led to compute in it generally.
The Financier supposes that the 1/100 of a dollar is not sufficiently
small, where the poor are purchasers or vendors. If it is not, make
a smaller coin. But I suspect that it is small enough. Let us examine
facts, in countries where we are acquainted with them. In Virginia,
where our towns are few, small, and of course their demand for
necessaries very limited, we have never yet been able to introduce a
copper coin at all. The smallest coin which any body will receive there,
is the half-bit, or 1/20 of a dollar. In those states where the towns
are larger and more populous, a more habitual barter for small wants,
has called for a copper coin of 1/90 or 1/96 or 1/108 of a dollar.
In England, where the towns are many and pouplous, and where ages of
experience have matured the conveniences of intercourse, they have found
that some wants may be supplied for a farthing, or 1/208 of a dollar,
and they have accommodated a coin to this want. This business is
evidently progressive. In Virginia we are far behind. In some other
states, they are farther advanced, to wit, to the appreciation of
1/90, 1/96 or 1/108 of a dollar. To this most advanced state, then, I
accommodated my smartest coin in the decimal arrangement, as a money of
payment, corresponding with the money of account. I have no doubt the
time will come when a smaller coin will be called for. When that comes,
let it be made. It will probably be the half of the copper I propose,
that is to say 5/1000 or.005 of a dollar, this being very nearly the
farthing of England. But it will be time enough to make it, when the
people shall be ready to receive it.
My proposition then, is, that our notation of money shall be decimal,
descending _ad libitum_ of the person noting; that the Unit of this
notation shall be a Dollar; that coins shall be accommodated to it from
ten dollars to the hundredth of a dollar; and that, to set this on
foot, the resolutions be adopted which were proposed in the notes, only
substituting an inquiry into the fineness of the coins in lieu of an
assay of them.
[NOTE G.]
I have sometimes asked myself, whether my country is the better for
my having lived at all. I do not know that it is. I have been the
instrument of doing the following things; but they would have been done
by others; some of them, perhaps, a little better.
The Rivanna had never been used for navigation; scarcely an empty
canoe had ever passed down it. Soon after I came of age I examined its
obstructions, set on foot a subscription for removing them, got an act
of Assembly passed, and the thing effected, so as to be used completely
and fully for carrying down all our produce.
The Declaration of Independence.
I proposed the demolition of the Church establishment, and the freedom
of religion. It could only be done by degrees; to wit, the act of 1776,
c. 2. exempted dissenters from contributions to the Church, and left the
Church clergy to be supported by voluntary contributions of their own
sect; was continued from year to year, and made perpetual 1779, c. 36. I
prepared the act for religious freedom in 1777, as part of the revisal,
which was not reported to the Assembly till 1779, and that particular
law not passed till 1785, and then by the efforts of Mr. Madison.
The act putting an end to entails.
The act prohibiting the importation of slaves.
The act concerning citizens, and establishing the natural right of man
to expatriate himself at will.
The act changing the course of descents, and giving the inheritance to
all the children, &c. equally, I drew as part of the revisal.
The act for apportioning crimes and punishments, part of the same work,
I drew. When proposed to the Legislature by Mr. Madison, in 1785, it
failed by a single vote. G. K. Taylor afterwards, in 1796, proposed the
same subject; avoiding the adoption of any part of the diction of mine,
the text of which had been studiously drawn in the technical terms of
the law, so as to give no occasion for new questions by new expressions.
When I drew mine, public labor was thought the best punishment to be
substituted for death. But, while I was in France, I heard of a society
in England who had successfully introduced solitary confinement, and
saw the drawing of a prison at Lyons, in France, formed on the idea of
solitary confinement. And, being applied to by the Governor of Virginia
for the plan of a Capitol and Prison, I sent him the Lyons plan,
accompanying it with a drawing on a smaller scale, better adapted to our
use. This was in June, 1786. Mr. Taylor very judiciously adopted this
idea, (which had now been acted on in Philadelphia, probably from the
English model,) and substituted labor in confinement, to the public
labor proposed by the Committee of revisal; which themselves would have
done, had they been to act on the subject again. The public mind was
ripe for this in 1796, when Mr. Taylor proposed it, and ripened chiefly
by the experiment in Philadelphia; whereas, in 1785, when it had been
proposed to our Assembly, they were not quite ripe for it.
In 1789 and 1790, I had a great number of olive plants, of the best
kind, sent from Marseilles to Charleston, for South Carolina and
Georgia. They were planted, and are flourishing; and, though not yet
multiplied, they will be the germ of that cultivation in those States.
In 1790, I got a cask of heavy upland rice, from the river Denbigh, in
Africa, about lat. 9° 30’ North, which I sent to Charleston, in hopes
it might supersede the culture of the wet rice, which renders South
Carolina and Georgia so pestilential through the summer. It was divided,
and a part sent to Georgia. I know not whether it has been attended to
in South Carolina; but it has spread in the upper parts of Georgia, so
as to have become almost general, and is highly prized. Perhaps it may
answer in Tennessee and Kentucky. The greatest service which can
be rendered any country is, to add an useful plant to its culture;
especially a bread grain; next in value to bread is oil.
Whether the Act for the more general diffusion of knowledge will ever
be carried into complete effect, I know not. It was received, by the
legislature, with great enthusiasm at first; and a small effort was made
in 1796, by the act to establish public schools, to carry a part of it
into effect, viz. that for the establishment of free English schools;
but the option given to the courts has defeated the intention of the
Act.*
* It appears, from a blank space at the bottom of this
paper, that a continuation had been intended. Indeed, from
the loose manner in which the above notes are written, it
may be inferred that they were originally intended as
memoranda only, to be used in some more permanent form.
[NOTE H.]
Sir,
New York, October 13, 1789.
In the selection of characters to fill the important offices of
Government in the United States, I was naturally led to contemplate the
talents and dispositions which I knew you to possess and entertain for
the service of your country; and without being able to consult your
inclination, or to derive any knowledge of your intentions from your
letters, either to myself or to any other of your friends, I was
determined, as well by motives of private regard, as a conviction of
public propriety, to nominate you for the Department of State, which,
under its present organization, involves many of the most interesting
objects of the Executive authority.
But grateful as your acceptance of this commission would be to me, I
am, at the same time, desirous to accommodate your wishes, and I
have, therefore, forborne to nominate your successor at the court of
Versailles until I should be informed of your determination.
Being on the eve of a journey through the Eastern States, with a view
to observe the situation of the country, and in a hope of perfectly
re-establishing my health, which a series of indispositions has much
impaired, I have deemed it proper to make this communication of your
appointment, in order that you might lose no time, should it be your
wish to visit Virginia during the recess of Congress, which will
probably be the most convenient season, both as it may respect your
private concerns, and the public service.
Unwilling, as I am, to interfere in the direction of your choice of
assistants, I shall only take the liberty of observing to you, that,
from warm recommendations which I have received in behalf of Roger
Alden, Esq., Assistant Secretary to the late Congress, I have placed all
the papers thereunto belonging under his care. Those papers which more
properly appertain to the office of Foreign Affairs, are under the
superintendence of Mr. Jay, who has been so obliging as to continue his
good offices, and they are in the immediate charge of Mr. Remsen.
With sentiments of very great esteem and regard, I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
George Washington.
The Honorable Thomas Jefferson.
I take the occasion to acknowledge the receipt of your several favors of
the 4th and 5th of December of the last, and 10th of May of the present
year, and to thank you for the communications therein. G. W.
New York, November 30, 1789.
Dear Sir,
You will perceive by the inclosed letter (which was left for you at the
office of Foreign Affairs when I made a journey to the Eastern States),
the motives, on which I acted with regard to yourself, and the occasion
of my explaining them at that early period.
Having now reason to hope, from Mr. Trumbull’s report, that you will
be arrived at Norfolk before this time (on which event I would most
cordially congratulate you), and having a safe conveyance by Mr.
Griffin, I forward your commission to Virginia; with a request to
be made acquainted with your sentiments as soon as you shall find it
convenient to communicate them to me. With sentiments of very great
esteem and regard,
I am, dear Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,
George Washington.
The Honorable Thomas Jefferson.
*****
CORRESPONDENCE
LETTER I.--TO DR. WILLIAM SMALL, May 7, 1775
TO DR. WILLIAM SMALL.
May 7, 1775.
Dear Sir,
Within this week we have received the unhappy news of an action of
considerable magnitude, between the King’s troops and our brethren of
Boston, in which, it is said, five hundred of the former, with the Earl
of Percy, are slain. That such an action has occurred, is undoubted,
though perhaps the circumstances may not have reached us with truth.
This accident has cut off our last hope of reconciliation, and a phrenzy
of revenge seems to have seized all ranks of people. It is a lamentable
circumstance, that the only mediatory power, acknowledged by both
parties, instead of leading to a reconciliation his divided people,
should pursue the incendiary purpose of still blowing up the flames, as
we find him constantly doing, in every speech and public declaration.
This may, perhaps, be intended to intimidate into acquiescence, but the
effect has been most unfortunately otherwise. A little knowledge
of human nature, and attention to its ordinary workings, might have
foreseen that the spirits of the people here were in a state, in which
they were more likely to be provoked, than frightened, by haughty
deportment. And to fill up the measure of irritation, a proscription of
individuals has been substituted in the room of just trial. Can it be
believed, that a grateful people will suffer those to be consigned to
execution, whose sole crime has been the developing and asserting their
rights? Had the Parliament possessed the power of reflection, they would
have avoided a measure as impotent, as it was inflammatory. When I saw
Lord Chatham’s bill, I entertained high hope that a reconciliation could
have been brought about. The difference between his terms, and those
offered by our Congress, might have been accommodated, if entered on,
by both parties, with a disposition to accommodate. But the dignity of
Parliament, it seems, can brook no opposition to its power. Strange,
that a set of men, who have made sale of their virtue to the minister,
should yet talk of retaining dignity. But I am getting into politics,
though I sat down only to ask your acceptance of the wine: and express
my constant wishes for your happiness.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER II.--TO JOHN RANDOLPH, August 25,1775
TO JOHN RANDOLPH, ESQ.,
Monticello,
August 25,1775.
Dear Sir,