The secret fight for the Federal reserve and the control the money supply (Lincoln)
Let me control a nation's money supply and I care not who makes its laws." - Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
Introduction
Let me control a nation's money supply and I care not who makes its laws." - Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
The control of money supply has been a central issue in the United States since its inception in July 1776. The fight over how to control the money supply has been at the heart of many major historical events, including the assassinations of four U.S. Presidents: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy. In this post, I will examine the relationship between these key historical events and the control of the money supply in the U.S. As such, this will be the first of four articles, based on the same topic. My objective is not to create conspiracy theories. Just to explain their monetary policies and the political conflicts they had related to the control of the money supply.
My objective is to increase discourse and debate by presenting facts and forming an independent understanding of the possible future use of cryptocurrency, who might be behind its adoption, what their incentives and motives are, and what impact this may have on the global economy from both a micro and macro perspective. To do this, I will extract policies and statements from each of the four Presidents and use an understanding of monetary policy and the theory of the monetary system to create policy that limits the power of the banking elite.
Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated on April 15th, 1865. He was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, while watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. Lincoln died the next day.
The Statement below is Lincoln's own words and expresses his own monetary theory. My objective here is to simply analyse my view on the arguments Lincoln was try to make, from which you can constitute your own opinion.
The wages of men should be recognised in the structure of and in the social order as more important than the wages of money [interest].
No duty is more imperative for the government than the duty it owes the people to furnish them with a sound and uniform currency, and of regulating the circulation of the medium of exchange so that labour will be protected from a vicious currency [private bank-created, interest-bearing debt], and commerce will be facilitated by cheap and safe exchanges.
The available supply of gold and silver being wholly inadequate to permit the issuance of coins of intrinsic value or paper currency convertible into coin in the volume required to serve the needs of the People, some other basis for the issue of currency must be developed, and some means other than that of convertibility into coin must be developed to prevent undue fluctuation in the value of paper currency or any other substitute for money of intrinsic value that may come into use.
In this first section, Lincoln highlights his view that it is the right of every individual to reap the benefits of their labor. As such, Lincoln believes that it is crucial for the government to establish a social framework that protects citizens and allows them to enjoy the fruits of their labor. However, there seems to be a disconnect between the protection of individual rights and the protection of banks, who make money from the interest on citizens' labor. At the time, banks had the power to print their own currency and held the credit of their customers as equity to lend to borrowers. I previously explained that money is a social concept and only holds value if people believe in its worth. However, since banks were unregulated, a perception that a bank had taken too much risk and was unable to fulfill its contractual obligations as stated in its banknotes could result in a bank run. Those who didn't withdraw their assets in time lost the spending power of their credit given to the bank. In Lincoln's view, the banking system was flawed and unable to protect citizens.
The monetary needs of increasing numbers of people advancing towards higher standards of living can and should be met by the government. Such needs can be met by the issue of national currency and credit through the operation of a national banking system. The circulation of a medium of exchange issued and backed by the government can be properly regulated and redundancy of issue avoided by withdrawing from circulation such amounts as may be necessary by taxation, re-deposit and otherwise. Government has the power to regulate the currency and credit of the nation.
Government should stand behind its currency and credit and the bank deposits of the nation. No individual should suffer a loss of money through depreciation or inflated currency or Bank bankruptcy.
Government, possessing the power to create and issue currency and credit as money and enjoying the right to withdraw both currency and credit from circulation by taxation and otherwise, need not and should not borrow capital at interest [from the private banking system or their affiliates] as a means of financing government work and public enterprise. The government should create, issue and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the government and the buying owner of consumers. The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the supreme prerogative of the government, but it is the government's greatest creative opportunity.
By the adoption of these principles, the long-felt want for a uniform medium will be satisfied. The taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest, discounts, and exchanges. The financing of all public enterprises, the maintenance of stable government and ordered progress, and the conduct of the Treasury will become matters of practical administration. The people can and will be furnished with a currency as safe as their own government. Money will cease to be the master and become the servant of humanity. Democracy will rise superior to the money power. Abraham Lincoln, Senate document 23, Page 91. 1865.
In this section, Lincoln believed that the solution to the broken banking system was to create a national currency and a national banking system. He believed that by having a "medium of exchange" that was owned, controlled, and regulated by taxpayers, the currency would have a fixed value and the supply and value of the currency would be controlled through taxation. Lincoln believed that the circulation of currency and the credit needed to support government spending should be a privilege of the government, elected by the people, in order to take power away from the banking elite and give it to democracy.
As Rowbotham notes:
"...such a monetary policy as [Lincoln] was proposing, if pursued effectively, would have signalled the end of banking and monetary power in the United States, and very rapidly everywhere throughout the developing world. Once that one government was seen to be capable of supplying its nation's monetary needs, others would certainly have followed."
In this section, Lincoln believed that the solution to the broken banking system was the creation of a national currency and a national banking system. He saw this as a way to establish a "medium of exchange" that was owned, controlled, and regulated by taxpayers, thus giving the currency a fixed value. The supply and value of the currency would be controlled through taxation, and the circulation of currency and credit needed to support government spending would be a privilege of the government, elected by the people. In this way, Lincoln hoped to shift power away from the banking elite and into the hands of democracy.
“Just get Congress to pass a bill authorising the printing of full legal tender treasury notes . . . and pay your soldiers with them and go ahead and win your war with them also. If you make them full legal tender . . . they will have the full sanction of the government and be just as good as any money; as Congress is given that express right by the Constitution.”
The Greenbacks were just as good as the bankers' banknotes. Both were created on a printing press, but the banknotes had a veneer of legitimacy because they were "backed" by gold. However, this backing was based on "fractional reserves," meaning the bankers held only a small fraction of the gold necessary to support all the loans represented by their banknotes. Lincoln followed Col. Taylor's advice and funded the war by printing paper notes backed by the credit of the government. These legal-tender U.S. Notes, also known as "Greenbacks," represented receipts for labor and goods delivered to the United States. They were paid to soldiers and suppliers and were tradeable for goods and services of equivalent value.
The Greenbacks not only helped the Union win the war but also funded a period of unprecedented economic expansion. Lincoln's government created the world's greatest industrial giant with the launch of the steel industry, creation of a continental railroad system, promotion of new farm machinery and cheap tools, establishment of free higher education, government support for all branches of science, organization of the Bureau of Mines, and increase of labor productivity by 50 to 75 percent.
Lincoln was against the idea of a private banking system controlling the US government's national currency. In his December 3, 1861 Annual Message to Congress, he stated, "The supply of currency is safe only when it is issued by an independent government, and is within the control of that government and not a corporation or syndicate of individuals."
Defining Lincoln's monetary policy
As highlighted by Lincoln's statements above, I showed Lincoln's belief that the government should have sole authority over the money supply, excluding private banking entities from the process. If not, Lincoln feared that granting a private banking system control over the national currency would lead to financial instability. He argued that if the money supply wasn't regulated by a central government authority, it would be subject to the whims of bankers and their decisions on when and how much currency to issue.
This, he believed, would result in an unpredictable and potentially volatile money supply, leading to economic chaos. He also believed that allowing a private banking system to control the money supply would lead to corruption and exploitation, placing too much power in the hands of a few individuals and creating an environment in which banks could charge exorbitant interest rates and fees, leading to the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer.
Abraham Lincoln's monetary policy theory focused on the importance of having the Treasury, rather than private bankers, control the printing of the country's currency. He believed that this would lead to a stronger and more stable economy.
In a letter to a friend, Lincoln stated, "The government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the government and the buying power of consumers." He argued that if private bankers were in control of the currency, they would be able to manipulate the economy for their own benefit, rather than for the benefit of the country as a whole.
Lincoln's push for the Treasury to have control over the printing of currency was also driven by his desire to fund the war effort during the Civil War. He argued that the government needed to be able to print more money to pay for the war, rather than borrowing from private banks and accumulating more debt.
In a message to Congress in 1862, Lincoln stated, "The advantages of a national currency are inseparably connected with the prosperity of the people." He believed that a national currency, controlled by the Treasury, would lead to greater economic opportunities for all Americans.
In conclusion
Lincoln's monetary policy theory emphasized the importance of government control over the currency and the need to prioritize the well-being of the nation over the interests of private bankers. By allowing a private banking system to control the money supply would be detrimental to the nation's economic stability and prosperity. By ensuring that the government had sole control over the money supply, he argued, it would be possible to ensure that the currency was reliable and not subject to the whims of bankers or other private entities.
Lincoln understood monetary theory, the importance of monetary policy and the importance of oversight over the control of the supply of money. This was because he understood the weakness in human nature and the effect such power would give to those forums who were in control of such a system. A lesson we are all learning only too well.
I’m loving your work, thank you! Please use quotation marks, though - would make parsing quotes much easier
Thank you for posting this. We need the American people to get informed about the monetary system. I drop links about this constantly, but so many people are just brainwashed, dumbed down, or simply not interested in learning anything. Maybe when the currency completely collapses and they try to force CBDCs on us, they will wake up, but that will probably be too late.