| Money is one of the oldest media for communication because writing was developed specifically for keeping track of debts and payments. Poetry and all the rest came later. According to University of Texas scholar, Denise Schmandt-Besserat, cuneiform writing evolved from the use of clay tokens to keep track of livestock, beer, and other farm goods. Such tokens go back to 7500 BCE. Eventually, the tokens were impressed on clay containers into which the tokens themselves were stored. Cuneiform writing evolved about 3500 BCE from these tokens. Thus, the oldest known cuneiform writings on clay tablets are inventory lists and promises to pay. By contrast, the oldest known epic, Gilgamesh, is dated to 1000 years later. All of this is explained in How Writing Came About by Denise Schmandt-Besserat, which can be ordered from the University of Texas Press for about $20. That popular paperback is based on the complete original two-volume research compendium, Before Writing: from Counting to Cuneiform. Volume I and Volume II. |
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~faigley/work/material_literacy/tokens.gif Tokens are about the size of the tip of your little finger to the size of the tip of your thumb. |
| Coins were invented about 550 BCE, and, of course, they carried images of animals and other symbols of their issuers. Realize that Babylonian merchants enjoyed about 3000 years of fiduciary instruments before coinage in precious metals was invented. The origin of coinage is a singular event, requiring special explanation. The theory that integrates most of the known facts and suggests the strongest correlations from other areas of knowledge says that coins were invented to pay mercenaries. Those mercenaries were Greeks. The citizens of towns in Ionia armored themselves in bronze and sold their services. Their clients were other Greek towns and the tyrants of Lydia, from Gyges and Alyattes to Croesus. We believe that the first coins of Athens, the so-called “wappenmuenze” carried the same images as those used on the war shields of the leading citizens. From about 400 BC, local Persian governors of Lydia, Caria, and Lycia were in revolt against a weak central government and these men – Tissaphernes, Pharnebazos, Perikle, and Mithrapata – were the first to put their own images on their coins. Later, Alexander the Great continued a family tradition in announcing his descent from Herakles via his coins. |
Electrum stater c 550 BCE. American Numismatic Society inventory. (http.www.numismatics.org) This coin weight about one-third of an ounce and is about the diameter of a US 5-cent nickel, but thicker. It represented about one month's wages for a soldier in the field, a rower on a galley or a citizen at assembly.
The Tyrant's Writ: Myths and Images of Writing in
Ancient Greece |
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The “Ides of March” denarius of Caesar’s assassin, Marcus Junius Brutus, is highly sought at auction today. Over 2000 years ago, money was political speech in a life and death struggle for power.
"On the obverse is a portrait of Brutus, himself, and the legend BRVT IMP L PLAET CEST (Brutus Imperator, L. Plaetorius Cestianus, the moneyer who minted the coin). It is one of the very few coins to be described in the ancient literature. Cassius Dio relates that "Brutus stamped upon the coins which were being minted his own likeness and a cap and two daggers, indicating by this and by the inscription that he and Cassius had liberated the fatherland" (XLVII.25.3). Minted while on the march in northern Greece, the coin type was recalled by the victorious Mark Antony and Octavian and melted down. Only fifty-six examples are known to exist, from seven obverse and twenty-five reverse dies; in 1994, one sold at auction for $123,500." -- SPQR: The Encyclopaedia Romana http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/preface.html "The reverse is the more striking face with the plain reference
to Caesar's assassination -- the legend EID MAR with two daggers --,
and the meaning of the assassination -- the liberty cap, worn by
slaves on the day of their manumission. The importance of the cap
here derives from the Republican claim that Caesar was aiming at the
kingship, since in Roman political terms the relation of king to
subject was that of master to slave. The murder of Caesar has set
the Roman people free; and the multiplicity of the heroic murderers
is indicated by the daggers which are always unalike. When the type
was copied after the murder of Nero the legend read LIBERTAS
RESTITVTA." -- Coin of the Moment, The FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge
University. http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/coins/exhibitions/CoinOfTheMoment/Ides/ |
The denarius is the ancestor of our 10-cent "dime." About 3 grams, nearly the same diameter but thicker. It represented about one day's wages. |
| Ancient Greek and Roman coins were the newspapers of their day,
celebrating Olympic games and announcing military victories.
The military anarchy of the mid-200s CE left us with the coins of generals who sought the imperial purple. From the 200s to the early 300s, these issues announced "Roma Aeterna," "Fel. Temp Reparatio" (the return of good times) and "Securitas Res Publica." The coins of the Constantine Family frequently carry "VOTA" and numerals to show their continuing re-election by the Senate. Even in the Dark Ages, poor imitations of Roman coins announced the names of tribal kings in England, Gaul, and Germany. As coinage – and literacy – improved after the Renaissance, legends and mottoes carried complex and subtle messages on new, large currencies called thalers (dollars), grossi (groschen), pistoles, crowns, florins and shillings.
For two hundred years in the 12th through 14th centuries (1139-1339), the republic of Genoa struck silver pennies (denari) in the name of Conrad, a pretender to the Holy Roman Empire who not only never attained the crown, but never actually set foot in Genoa. In that time, Genoa had four different constitutions, but was never ruled by a monarch. |
IVDAEA CAPTA Judea Capta sestertius (bronze) issue of Vespasian, after the long siege of a difficult and embarrassingly smaller opponent, Roman forces finally took Jerusalem. Man left stands bound and naked. Right mourning Judea sits captive under a palm tree. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/vespasian/RIC_0159,note.jpg The coin above is about the diameter of a US 50-cent half dollar.
Trajan announces the defeat of Dacia (modern Romania) on this denarius.
Obverse reads: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC, (Imperator Trajan Augustus. Germanicus. Dacius. [Conqueror of Germany and Dacia] Pontifex Maximus (priest of the bridges -- a title still used by the Bishop of Rome) Thrice Potent (Elected as) Consul 5 times Pater Patria (Father of His Country) in the name of the Senate and the People of Rome, Greatest Prince.)
Dacia seated left in mourning on pile of arms; DAC CAP in exergue. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/trajan/i.html Like the earlier denarius, this was about the diameter of a US Dime. |
| "Stadtluft mach frei." City air makes you free.
From the posthumous works of German sociologist, Max Weber, the
collection Wirtschaft
und Gesellschaft (Economy and Society) includes his
treatise on The City (also available separately).
The medieval city allowed the creation of new social arrangements In English common law, a serf who lived within a city for a year and day without being "recalled" (recaptured) by his lord was legally free. We know of admittedly isolated cases of women being called "mayoress" apparently succeeding to the office left to her in her widowhood. Women in the city inherited property and inheritance laws in general took on a more modern form, not dependent on traditional blood lines. The tower clock -- not the weather or the seasons -- regulated activity. Citizen militias, not vassals, defended the town. Fairs brought strangers together and led to new legal formalities from notaries to merchant courts. Inevitably, cities touted their advantages via coins that carried their names along the routes of commerce. |
LÜNEBURG (Saxony; SE of Hamburg) city thaler. Dollar-size coin from 1547. The Man-faced crescent moon is a pun on the city name. The motto reads VISITABIT NOS ORIENS EX ALTO (... the sunrise comes to us from on high -- Luke 1:78) and the date. Reverse displays the city gate with arms and three towers and the legend MONETA NOVA CIVITATIS LVNEBVRG (new money of the city Lunenburg. Stack's Auction 22 April 2009 Lot number: 1706 Price realized: $1100. http://www.coinarchives.com/
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| It is impossible to see the money of American colonial, state, private
and early federal mints and not be impressed with the array of
strong political messages. The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM first
appeared on the coppers of New Jersey 1787. The devices on
legends on the Continental Currency dollar are attributed to Benjamin
Franklin. The firm he founded printed money for Pennsylvania bearing
these same symbols and messages.
An excellent visual presentation supported by authoritative text can be found at the University of Notre Dame website for Colonial Coins and Currency. http://www.coins.nd.edu/ American collectors know that the annual Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins by Yeoman and Bressett) devotes a rich narrative to these and similar issues.
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1776 Continental Dollar. Superior Stamp & Coin's 2000 ANA Mid-Winter Sale.
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The industrial revolution created a new demand for small value coins in astronomical quantities. Private mints met the need. The new tokens announced an array of commercial and political messages. In 1794, the shoemaker, Thomas Hardy, was the secretary to the London Corresponding Society. His outspoken support for the French Revolution – including his association with a play called La Guillotine: or, George’s Head – brought him from his shop at 161 Fleet Street to Old Bailey Prison on charges of sedition. His lawyers struck a token to celebrate their skill and his good fortune. Tried for Treason/Acquitted by a Jury of His Peers. Today, it is catalogued as Dalton and Hamer Middlesex 204, and you can own one in uncirculated grade for about $150.
Many of the new private copper coins touted the commercial virtues of the Quakers: beehives to represent "industry" and hands clasped in a shake of friendship (also a Roman theme). They also advertised for firms such as the Parys Mines and Wilkinson Iron Works, cities and taverns.
A token from Norwich, Norfolk, called for "More Trade and Fewer Taxes." (D & H 236). Canadian tokens in the next generation echoed similar calls: "Trade & Navigation / Pure Copper Preferable to Paper." (Carlton Brett 963). |
Obverse of trade token. Spaniel with motto, "Much gratitude brings servitude."
Reverse with Caduceus and motto, “We were born free and will not be slaves.” These penny tokens were about the size of a US 50-cent half dollar. The half penny tokens were about the size of a quarter. A penny represented about the price of a pint of ale. A typical industrial worker earned as little as two to three pence per day or as much as six pence depending on skill and productivity. |
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In America, an economic contraction punctuated by the Panic of 1837 brought
another dearth of small change as all hard money was hoarded and
federal coinage became scarce on the street. Private tokens
filled the vacuum.
The abolition of slavery was one of the many topics in the popular series of “Hard Times Tokens” from the Jacksonian Era. Partisans heralded or lampooned Jackson – bluntly cartooned as a jackass with a law degree – as well as Daniel Webster, Martin Van Buren, and Thomas Hart Benton. About a hundred other types, merchant advertising, also passed in daily commerce. Such tokens are easiest to find in circulated grades because for ten years they were passed from hand to hand in daily commerce.
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Left: Andrew Jackson stands in an empty chest (The Treasury) under "I TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY". Right: Honoring Henry Clay -- "United We Stand / The American System" Numismatist Alan S. Fisher's website http://www.hardtimestokens.com/ presents excellent pictures of these, nicely organized and indexed. These large cents were about the size of a modern US 25-cent quarter dollar.
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| The Civil War again drove hard money from the markets.
Once more private tokens circulated. They fall into two broad
classes, Store Cards and Patriotics.
These ad hoc issues replaced the new "Indian Head" cents which were smaller than the older issues, allowing less room for artistry. Perhaps more to the point, the inherently divisive nature of the war and its grim tolls blocked any attempts at humor on these coins. The nation was torn apart at the family level. Therefore, mottos were somewhat vague. One famous exception says "The Flag of our Union. If anyone attempts to tear it down / Shoot him on the spot." The words are attributed to John Adams Dix, Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of President James Buchanan.
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The Civil War Token Society supports this aspect of American numismatics. Reliable introductory information can be found in two related Wikipedia articles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_War_token http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_Dix
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| It was during the Civil War that federal coinage acquired the
motto IN GOD WE TRUST. The words first appeared on the 2-cent
copper and later were mandated by Congress to appear on all US
Coins. US paper money officially acquired the motto by law in 1953 and it appeared on the US Treasury Silver Certificates of 1957. Now, all Federal Reserve Notes (technically a private issue) bear that statement. In point of fact, IGWT first appeared on the U.S. Treasury $5 Silver Certificates of 1886. The back of the note displays the reverses of four silver dollars (and one obverse; makes five). |
History pages at the Federal Reserve of San Francisco http://www.frbsf.org/currency/metal/silvercerts/585.html |
| Perhaps the starkest political statement via money comes from comparing two banknotes. One features Karl Marx. It was issued by the communist government of the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until 1990. On the other hand, the privately-owned Clydesdale Bank of Scotland issued a ₤50 note celebrating Adam Smith. |
Image from RonWise’s Banknote World (http://www.banknoteworld.com), the archive of the International Banknote Society (http://www.theibns.org)
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| Adam Smith is also now commemorated on a Bank of England ₤20 issue. Founded in 1694, the Bank was nationalized in 1946, but achieved nominal independence in 1997. Its governors and directors are appointed by the crown, making it much like the American Federal Reserve, a nominally private entity with close government supervision. It would be interesting to hear what Adam Smith or Karl Marx might have said about that. |
Images from RonWise’s Banknote World (http://www.banknoteworld.com), the archive of the International Banknote Society (http://www.theibns.org)
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| A modern Federal Reserve Note has about 20 separate statements
or verbal symbols supplemented by a wealth of glyphs and signs. Money is speech ... and press... and religion ... and association... as well as property ... |
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Supreme Court of the United States on the question of whether or not money is speech.
Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1
(1976), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States
upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled
that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally
protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law. The court also
stated candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own
campaigns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckley_v._Valeo
In this complicated case, the Court arrived at two important conclusions.
First, it held that restrictions on individual contributions to political
campaigns and candidates did not violate the First Amendment since the
limitations of the FECA enhance the "integrity of our system of
representative democracy" by guarding against unscrupulous practices.
Second, the Court found that governmental restriction of independent
expenditures in campaigns, the limitation on expenditures by candidates from
their own personal or family resources, and the limitation on total campaign
expenditures did violate the First Amendment. Since these practices do not
necessarily enhance the potential for corruption that individual
contributions to candidates do, the Court found that restricting them did
not serve a government interest great enough to warrant a curtailment on
free speech and association.
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1975/1975_75_436
(Cited in Randall v. Sorrell,
Buckley v. Valeo is not on the SCOTUS website
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/)
In the case of Nixon v Shrink Missouri Government PAC, 528 U.S. 377 (2000). Jeremiah (“Jay”) Nixon, the attorney general of Missouri had enforced contribution limits on the campaign of Zev David Friedman, a candidate for the Republican nomination for Missouri state auditor. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court and the justices settled three questions:
- Does federal law govern state elections? (yes)
- Is federal law the only standard for state regulations of election contributions? (no)
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Are campaign spending limits unconstitutional? (no).
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a concurring opinion.
“Money is
property; it is not speech. … Speech has the power to inspire volunteers to
perform a multitude of tasks on a campaign trail, on a battleground, or even
on a football field. Money, meanwhile, has the power to pay hired laborers
to perform the same tasks. It does not follow, however, that the First
Amendment provides the same measure of protection to the use of money to
accomplish such goals as it provides to the use of ideas to achieve the same
results.”
Justice Stevens did allow an exception via a footnote:
“Unless, of
course, the prohibition entirely forecloses a channel of communication, such
as the use of paid petition circulators. See, e.g., Meyer v. Grant, 486 U.
S. 414, 424 (1988) ("Colorado's prohibition of paid petition circulators
restricts access to the most effective, fundamental, and perhaps economical
avenue of political discourse, direct one-on-one communication. ... The
First Amendment protects appellees' right not only to advocate their cause
but also to select what they believe to be the most effective means for so
doing").
Randall v. Sorrell
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/04-1528.pdf
RANDALL ET AL. v. SORRELL ET AL.
(Slip opinion)
Vermont’s Act 64 stringently limits both the amounts that candidates for state
office may spend on their campaigns and the amounts thatindividuals,
organizations, and political parties may contribute to those campaigns. ...
The Second Circuit held that all of the Act’s contribution limits are
constitutional, ruled that the expenditure limits may be constitutional
be-cause they are supported by compelling interests in preventing corruption or
its appearance and in limiting the time state officials must spend raising
campaign funds, and remanded for the District Court to determine whether the
expenditure limits were narrowly tailored to those interests.
Although the Act excludes uncompensated volunteer services from its
“contribution” definition, it does not exclude the expenses volunteers incur,
e.g., travel expenses, in the course of campaign activities. The combination of
very low contribution limits and the absence of an exception excluding
volunteer expenses may well impede a campaign’s ability effectively to use
volunteers, thereby making it more difficult for individuals to associate in
this way.
Held: The judgment is reversed, and the cases are remanded.
BREYER, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in
which ROBERTS, C. J., joined, and in which ALITO, J., joined as to all but Parts
II–B–1 and II–B–2. ALITO, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring
in the judgment. KENNEDY, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment.
THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which
SCALIA, J., joined. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion. SOUTER, J., filed a
dissenting opinion, in which GINSBURG, J., joined, and in which STEVENS, J.,
joined as to Parts II and
III.