Our people... will give you all the necessaries of war they produce, if, instead of the bankrupt trash they now are obliged to receive for want of any other, you will give them a paper promise funded on a specific pledge, and of a size for common circulation.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Jefferson suggests offering war supplies in exchange for paper currency backed by specific pledges rather than worthless trash.
- In plain terms
- Trade war supplies for real paper money backed by a pledge, not worthless currency.
- What can you take from it?
- Trade goods for backed currency to avoid worthless money.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes money valuable?
- How do you fund a war?
Another view
Paper promises can still fail if the pledge is not honored.
More from Thomas Jefferson
Put down the banks, and if this country could not be carried through the longest war against her most powerful enemy without ever knowing the want of a dollar,…
Permalink to quote #178 Instead of funding issues of paper on the hypothecation of specific redeeming taxes (the only method of anticipating, in a time of war, the resources of times …
Permalink to quote #180 In order to be able to meet a general combination of the banks against us in a critical emergency, could we not make a beginning towards an independent use of …
Permalink to quote #177
Related quotes
Money is indispensable to a long-circuit heavy load energy system. It must be used when a sufficient surplus is being produced to allow a margin for exchange, …
Isabel PatersonIsabel Paterson quote #2 As Minister of Economics, Funk accelerated the pace of rearmament and as Reichsbank president banked for the SS the gold teeth fillings of concentration camp v…
Walther FunkWalther Funk quote #12 If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good, makes the bill good also. The difference between the b…
Thomas Alva EdisonThomas Alva Edison quote #21