We read and hear a lot about money. We read and hear about fluctuations in the value of the Dollar, Pound, and Euro, interest rates and who can and can’t get access to credit, and we also read and hear about new virtual currencies like Bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra.
We talk a lot about money. But where did the idea of money come from?
Did early Americans think about money a lot too?
Jeffrey Sklansky is a Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of Sovereign of the Market: The Money Question in Early America. Jeff is an expert in the intellectual and social history of capitalism in early America and he’s agreed to lead us on an investigation of the world of money in early America.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Episode Summary
Jeffrey Sklansky is a Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of Sovereign of the Market: The Money Question in Early America. Jeff is an expert in the intellectual and social history of capitalism in early America and he’s agreed to lead us on an investigation of the world of money in early America.
As we explore the world of money in early America, Jeff reveals how money came about in early America; How English and British Americans thought about money; And details about “the money question” early Americans grappled with and how that “money question” informs how we think about money today.
What You’ll Discover
- Why the history of money has become a “hot topic” to study
- Why we should study money in early America
- The “money question” in early America
- Seventeenth-century European money traditions
- Development of currencies in North America
- How and why colonial Massachusetts issued paper currency
- Conflict over colonial Massachusetts’ decision to issue paper currency
- Paper money and religion in Massachusetts
- Paper money and science in Massachusetts
- The Bay Colony’s response to colonists call to issue and not issue paper money
- The “money question” and the American Revolution
- What the “money question” of the 17th and 18th centuries can tell us about our present-day money questions
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Jeffrey Sklansky
- Sovereign of the Market: The Money Question in Early America
- The Soul’s Economy: Market Society and Selfhood in American Thought, 1820-1920
- Simon Middleton
- Liz Covart, “A Cashless Society: Early American Currency”
Sponsor Links
Complementary Episodes
- Episode 099: Mark Hanna, Pirates & Pirate Nests in the British Atlantic World
- Episode 109: John Dixon, The American Enlightenment & Cadwallader Colden
- Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments
- Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas
- Episode 213: Rebecca Fraser, The Pilgrims of Plimoth
- Episode 235: Jenny Hale Pulsipher, A 17th-Century Native American Life
Time Warp Question
In your opinion, what might have happened if England had not outlawed the exportation of silver and other forms of English currency to North America? How might the history of the “money question” have been different?
Questions, Comments, Suggestions
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Get in Touch! Send me an e-mail, tweet, or leave a comment.
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