Texas Heritage, Winter 2002 Page: 6
63 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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PRESIDENT'S
by MarshallJ. Doke Jr.
Few things in history have had the
romance associated with money.
Countless historical events and fictional
stories of war, love, murder,
charity, theft, and even religion are
related to money.
Money appears in the archeological
records soon after the emergence
of primitive states. It replaced the
barter system of primitive people
because of its practicality and elimination
of the problems in deciding
how many fish equaled one sheep,
the number of sheep that equaled a
cow, etc. Money established a standard
for value. In fact, historians
believe the first coins were made around 600 B.C. in what is
now Turkey and were called "starters," meaning standard.
Money has resulted in common expressions related to
value. For example, lumps of salt were used to pay Roman
soldiers. This practice led to the expression "not worth his
salt" to describe a person who does not earn his wages.
During the American Revolutionary War, the
Continental Congress issued great amounts of notes called
"continentals." When they lost most of their value,
Americans began describing worthless things as "not worth
a continental." And, of course, "not worth the paper it is
printed on" is a well-known phrase derived from worthless
currency.
The deflation of currencies in the United States was a
major problem at the time Texas gained independence. The
1836 Constitution gave the Congress of the Republic the
power to coin money, but it provided that nothing but gold
and silver could be made lawful tender. However, no coins
ever were minted by or for the Republic.
Obtaining money was an urgent requirement of the
Republic. In one of its earliest actions, November 18, 1836,
the Congress of the Republic authorized the President to
issue $1,000 bonds not exceeding $5 million. Congress later
directed that land scrip for 500,000 acres be sold for not less
than 50 cents per acre but provided that, if bonds to the
amount of $500,000 be previously sold, the President must
recall the scrip and forbid further selling. The government's
optimism was not warranted; it took three years to obtain aloan-$457,380 from the Pennsylvania
Bank of the United States in return for 10
percent bonds.
The article by John Rowe and John M.
Davis Jr., in this HERITAGE issue discusses
the decline in value of currencies of
the Republic. On December 14, 1837, in
an attempt to protect its currency, Texas
made it unlawful for any person to issue or
put in circulation any printed or lithographed
promissory notes, bills, or paper
of any denomination. In a separate law for
a similar purpose the same day, Congress
provided that only gold, silver, or notes of
the Republic could be received in payment
of duties and that bank notes could
not be received in payment of any amounts due the government.
However, the great excess of Texas' expenditures
over receipts during every year of the Republic prevented a
stable value for Texas money until it was replaced by
United States currency after annexation.
Two articles in this issue trace the history of Texas currency
from pre-Republic to post Reconstruction times. A
later era of historic Texas currency was the national bank
note period from 1863 to 1935. This currency, "home town
paper money," issued by local Texas banks has become an
important collectible item of Texana.
The article by Steven Ivy and Jason Bradford describes
the history of Texas national bank notes, and there are 23
reproductions of the fronts or backs of these beautifully
engraved notes contained in this magazine. This issue of
HERITAGE will be the first time a representative group of
color reproductions of Texas bank notes has been made
available in a publication of general circulation in Texas.
We extend our special thanks to the individuals who
made contributions to sponsor extra pages of color reproductions
of "Texas nationals" in this issue. This Texas HERITAGE,
we believe, is a significant addition to the publicly
available literature on Texas currency.
Doke is a lawyer in the Dallas office of Gardere Wynne Sewell
LLP. He welcomes your comments or suggestions regarding the
Texas Historical Foundation at his e-mail addressmdoke@gardere
.com.HERITAGE MWINTER 2002
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Texas Historical Foundation. Texas Heritage, Winter 2002, periodical, Winter 2002; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45380/m1/6/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.