SILVER

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. - 1 -
CHAPTER 1: A MONETARY HISTORY OF SILVER – 3,400 B.C. - 1792 ..................................... - 4 -
THE ORIGIN OF MONEY ......................................................................................................................................... - 6 -
IS DEFLATION REALLY A BAD THING? .................................................................................................................. - 8 -
SILVER’S USE AS MONEY: A BRIEF HISTORY ..................................................................................................... - 10 -
The Lydian System ....................................................................................................................................- 11 -
The Medieval Period................................................................................................................................... - 14 -
CHINA: THE BIRTHPLACE OF PAPER MONEY......................................................................................................... - 15 -
The Song (S’ung) Dynasty ......................................................................................................................- 16 -
The Chin Tartars .........................................................................................................................................- 17 -
The Yuan Dynasty ......................................................................................................................................- 19 -
The Ming Dynasty....................................................................................................................................... - 20 -
Silver Fever in Asia ....................................................................................................................................- 21 -
THE RENAISSANCE AND DISCOVERY OF THE AMERICAS ..................................................................................... - 21 -
THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE—A LOOK AT EARLY EXPERIMENTS WITH PAPER MONEY IN THE WESTERN WORLD - 25 -
CHAPTER 2: A MONETARY HISTORY OF SILVER IN AMERICA .................................................. - 28 -
THE U.S. CONSTITUTION: NOTABLE SECTIONS AND ARTICLES ........................................................................ - 28 -
BIMETALLISM AND GRESHAM’S LAW ................................................................................................................... - 29 -
SILVER AND GOLD IN THE UNITED STATES (REVOLUTIONARY WAR-PRESENT DAY) ........................................ - 30 -
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR: THE FIRST U.S. FIAT MONEY COLLAPSES IN THE CONTINENTAL ........................ - 31 -
COINAGE ACT OF 1792 ...................................................................................................................................... - 32 -
THE FIRST BANK OF THE UNITED STATES: 1791-1811................................................................................... - 33 -
THE SECOND BANK OF THE UNITED STATES 1816-1836 ................................................................................ - 34 -
THE RISE OF THE JACKSONIAN MOVEMENT AND HARD MONEY IN THE U.S...................................................... - 35 -
COINAGE ACT OF 1834 ...................................................................................................................................... - 35 -
THE COINAGE ACT OF 1837 ............................................................................................................................... - 37 -
The Coinage Acts of 1853 and 1857..................................................................................................... - 37 -
FREE BANKING ERA ............................................................................................................................................. - 42 -
THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF FIAT “PAPER MONEY” ........................................................................................... - 43 -
CRIME OF 73’ ...................................................................................................................................................... - 44 -
SILVER PURCHASE ACT OF 1934 ....................................................................................................................... - 46 -
COINAGE ACT OF 1965 ...................................................................................................................................... - 46 -