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1740: Dr. Wm. Douglas vs. the Land Bank

February 9, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

[DR. WILLIAM DOUGLASS] A LETTER TO MERCHANT IN LONDON CONCERNING A LATE COMBINATION IN THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY . . . TO IMPOSE OR FORCE A PRIVATE-CURRENCY CALLED LAND-BANK MONEY, 21 FEBRUARY ,1740 I have the favour of yours of 1st December per the Bladen, with Copies of the Reports of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs; concerning our Land-Bank so called: I observe that having examined into the Nature of the Scheme, and of the refusal of the House of Representatives to pay any regard to the Governour’s Message […]

1739-40: Prospectus of the Land Bank Company

February 9, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

PROSPECTUS OF THE LAND BANKOR MANUFACTORY COMPANY.__________________________ THE LAND BANK OR MANUFACTORY SCHEME. Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. In order to Redress the distressing Circumstances which the Trade of this Province labours under for want of a Medium, other Methods having failed, it is proposed to set up a Bank on Land Security, no Person to be admitted but such as dwell in this Province, and hath a Real Estate therein. I. THE Stock to be One Hundred and fifty Thousand Pounds Lawful Money; no man to subscribe for more than Two Thousand Pounds, and none less […]

Puritan New England 1: Prehistory of American Freedom

February 9, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Foner starts his Story of American Freedom with the claim that “American Freedom was born in revolution,” but then makes it clear that the story really begins in a web of complex conflicts and outright contradictions from which, perhaps, “American freedom” never entirely extricates itself. This is abundantly clear in the thought of New Englanders in the early colonial period. I: Equality before God; Inequality of Station On the one hand, documents such as John Winthrop’s “A Modell of Christian Charity” (1630), present a rather radically egalitarian vision of human beings’ absolute equality before God. For many puritans, even the […]

Andrew McFarland Davis on the Land Banks

February 7, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Here are some links to a small part of Andrew McFarland Davis’ work on the colonial land banks. The first essay, on a Connecticut experiment of 1732, is interesting. The last essay provides a context for Severals relating to the FUND, which I recently posted on The Very Idea! Davis, Andrew McFarland. “A Connecticut Land Bank of the Eighteenth Century.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 13 (October 1898): 70-84. Davis, Andrew McFarland. “Currency Discussions in Massachusetts in the Eighteenth Century.” Part I. Quarterly Journal of Economics 11 (October 1896): 70-91. Davis, Andrew McFarland. “Currency Discussions in Massachusetts in the Eighteenth Century.” […]

William Cullen Bryant, “On Usury Laws” (1836)

February 2, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

While this essay was published in 1836, while William B. Greene was at West Point, similarities between it and the the section on “The Usury Laws” in Greene’s Equality (1849) make it worth at least a look as a potential source. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANTOn Usury Laws The fact that the usury laws, arbitrary, unjust, and oppressive as they are, and unsupported by a single substantial reason, should have been suffered to exist to the present time can only be accounted for on the ground of the general and singular ignorance which has prevailed as to the true nature and character […]

William Manning and the “Key of Libberty”

February 1, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Here’s a guest post from my peer facilitator and teaching assistant, Jennie Ahlborn, introducing William Manning’s Key of Libberty, along with citations (and links, for some folks, to Manning’s two key texts.) William Manning’s The Key of LibbertySamuel Eliot Morison; William Manning, The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 13, No. 2. (Apr., 1956), pp. 202-254. “Measures So Glareingly unjust”: A Response to Hamilton’s Funding Plan by William ManningRuth Bogin, The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 46, No. 2. (Apr., 1989), pp. 315-331. William ManningHere’s a study guide on Manning, for all those who would like a […]

Greene meets Kossuth, Springfield, MA, April 26, 1852

February 1, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

From Kossuth in New England : a full account of the Hungarian governor’s visit to Massachusetts with his speeches, and the addresses that were made to him, carefully revised and corrected, with an appendix (1852). Soon after entering the hotel, Kossuth was introduced to each member of the legislative committee. Immediately afterwards, and while the committee were yet in the reception-room, General Wilson introduced to Kossuth the Rev. William B. Greene, of Brookfield, who presented him with a purse of one hundred dollars, the subscription of certain inhabitants of Brookfield to the Hungarian fund, and then addressed him as follows: […]

Oops! Wrong Brookfield? Mass. Historical backroads prove tricky

January 25, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

Hehe. Thanks to some help from the very kind folks at the West Brookfield Historical Commission, it looks like we may have to revise one of the generally accepted “facts” about William B. Greene’s career. The West Brookfield firm of Merriam & Chapin printed a number of the pamphlets Greene wrote and published while he was a pastor in the area, but it looks like he was probably serving the First Congregational Church of Brookfield (identified in some contemporary accounts as South Brookfield), rather than the similarly named church in West Brookfield. With 20/20 hindsight, this looks obvious to me. […]

The Fund: A Boston Land Bank of 1681

January 23, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

An important episode in the story of the New England land banks is The Fund at Boston, in New England, apparently the earliest practical land bank experiment in the colonies. Much of what we know of it comes from a pamphlet with the delightfully cryptic title Several relating to the FUND, Printed for divers Reasons, as may appear (1681 or 1682). Because all that we have of the Severals is one unbound sheet, probably issued as a prospectus, I’ve simply posted the whole thing up on The Very Idea!.

The Fund: A Boston Land Bank of 1681

January 22, 2006 Shawn P. Wilbur

One sheet survives of this pamphlet, attributed to Rev. John Woodbridge. It describes an early mutual bank scheme known as The Fund at Boston in N. E. It is quite likely that this sheet was issued as a prospectus, and that the rest of the pamphlet was never published. The Severals is of particular interest because it confirms that path of between William Potter’s Key of Wealth (England, 1650) and the New England land bank experiments. Andrew Mcfarland Davis published an account of the Fund which we hope to have online sometime soon. Severals relating to the FUND Printed for […]