The Strange History of Money in America
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- Опубликовано: 15 май 2024
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Special thanks to Caleb Lewis for his original music contribution to this video
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23:34 eventually as you keep following the trail, you will find that we destroyed the group of people who were living here before we were, and they knew much more about the land than we ever knew, and maybe will ever know. They call it the New World. They lived in prehistoric time far longer than the rest of what we know as the world at that time. there’s a complicated multifaced style of Art* that was produced by the ancient Americans, we call them rocks. Until you learn it, you will never question why every single stone is carry sized. Every single pocket sized stone looks like a bird. ❤
It was cool to see the Nutmeg Tavern look like an operating tavern.
Yeah! i love seeing the lighting of the candles in a realistic daily setting too.
It feels like a movie. Perfectly staged.
Round the back is the Allspice brothel.
I would love a whole town living in the 1700’s. I would use my vacation times to go visit for a week or two at a time. No phone, no no tech. What a nice break that would be. Trade in silver and gold. Taverns, restaurants, shops and shows. 🥰
I was thinking that myself. I'm gonna cut that part of the video and make a 'tavern ambience 1 hour video loop' if that's ok
This education is so valuable it should be taught in schools, especially with this type of medium.
You're such a good teacher, Jon!
I agree!
Definitely using this video in my US History & Economics classes!
I 1000% Agree!! All I learned in school back in the 90's was all the colonies had different money it was confusing, so eventually after the American Revolutionary war it was banned, and the new US Gov. started printing it's own paper money.
👏👍
Well said and an excellent thought.
Watching this channel reminds me of how the specials on PBS use to be. Talking about money is cool, complex and possibly boring, but you've hit that nice middle point where you get high end education and entertainment. Kinda like putting carrots and broccoli in cheesey rice for a kid that "doesn't like" vegetables. 😂 Keep up the hard work!
Yeah PBS is all politics anymore.
@@bensharp575 No it isn't.
Nice analogy
@@bensharp575 Are you ben shaparo
That’s a good example with cheesy rice lmao
Note: Prior to the Gold Rush, the most common coin west of the Mississippi was the Mexican silver dollar, the 8 reale piece. The USA did not mint silver dollars from 1805 to 1835 because of a silver shortage. The Mexican coins came up from Santa Fe in barrels, so were very common. Most of the people going West in the 1840s would have used the Mexican coin.
Didn't know... Pretty cool
Interesting!
Thank you for sharing.
in the years after the Texas Revolution the Mexican peso was still the common currency of the Republic of Texas now they did have a paper currency that was printed in the Republic but half the time that paper currency wasn't worth the paper it was printed on
Very interesting. Had not heard that before.
Was it by weight of silver in the coin or accepted at face value?
@@bensharp575 Appears to have been accepted as if it were the same as the American dollar.
The value of coins: Depends on many factors
Seeing Hatless John: Priceless
It’s like that time my dad shaved off his mustache and I didn’t know who is was!
His nutmeg jar broke and he’s currently using the hat to store it
What kind of gentleman would be out and about without wearing a hat?
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 a gentleman with lovely hair, of course
Worth 1 (one) hatless John NFT?
Your production values just astound me sometimes. Excellent video. Maybe my favorite so far, and it wasn't even a cooking one!
Thank you so much! We appreciate that.
Seconded, this is one of their best ever videos.
I totally agree!👍👍👍
I have to agree, this is one of the best videos I have seen here which says something as all Jon's videos are top notch.
True
Awww! the use of the tavern in an actual scene is awesome!
I didn’t know I was in for a college lecture on the fiat dollar but I’m so glad I did
Prediction: This is going to be the most viewed video on their channel
Maybe, I love others way more but this is good, and ppl may come across it from searching which will be nice 🙂
Let's learn about early American money and see how much value it had compared to today's!
Hopefully so; this high quality style infotainment presentation gets down to the brass tacks of financial literacy in detailed references to a sound economic system that laid the foundation for America today and it is being cut down with every meeting of the Modern Monetary Theory Féd Reserve, gov bailouts of too big to fail businesses, and stimulus checks that incentivize a workforce to stop clocking in
@@thisguy4614 tell us you don't understand basic economic principles without saying you don't understand basic economic principles
@@theodorekorehonen wow. Really?
Everybody's at a different level.
We take money so easily for granted, that it's easy to forget that it has such a complex history.
The fact that none of our 'paper' money is backed by a gold standard is complicating it the further away we get from when it was. Bit coin and other virtual 'coins' are adding to this modern complexity!!
It will have a complicated future as well, I assure you.
The music, the cinematography, the history... simply beautiful.
My children and I absolutely love this channel. No matter how bad things get or crappy day that I have I can just go back and pick a video and watch for an hour or two learn something new about our history and just enjoy a wholesome RUclips channel. John and crew are the kind of folks I'd love to be around.
Yes they really are👍👏
Every video is wholesome and most uplifting!
Thank you Job and everyone involved.
( No nutmeg coin, anywhere insight! 😂)
Yes. Keep politics outta it! N I'm a black woman...times wasnt so peachy 4 my kind.
The old expression "2 bits" = 25 cents because of the Spanish Dollar/piece of eight; two eighths is a quarter.
Makes sense, 12.5*2
Shave and a haircut, five bits!
@@theoestep lol
Even “1 bit” was used for 12½¢ occasionally since ½¢ coins existed at the time
@@theoestep" Shave and a haircut, 6 bits. "
You could sit through 8 semesters of high school history and not learn this much.
Were it not for my strict history teacher who required us to outline the history text and draw graphs and charts, I would never have learned much history. Yet, much of this material was new to me. I pity today's youth that don't study history.
@@jayecurry1369 wat
I believe History teachers are the most passionate about their work. My two favorite teachers from high school were my World History and American History teachers, they loved teaching us about the past.
The real difference is willingness.
@@chrism1518 Yeah, I had some great history teachers back in my school days, and learned a lot from them. I was also actually interested in learning stuff at school, so that helped.
This was spectacularly good, I don't think anyone else could tell this story in such an understandable and approachable way. If there were Emmy awards for RUclipss this should win one. Well done, very well done.
Pretty sure there is an award for online creators. Can't think of the name though.
I just don't care enough to know. Regardless this channel is awesome.
The Tavern scene made me miss even more my re-enacting family and experiences these past couple years. Also, BONUS JOSH SIGHTING! :-)
How about a companion piece about the role of barter on the frontier. That tradition lasted a long time even after money was widely available. I remember my grandma paying to have corn meal ground by giving the guy a portion. He still operated on a barter system, and this as in the 1970s!
Still do it in U.S.A.
I still barter! An metalworker with knowledge and experience in remodeling I cam barter quite a lot! 😅. I usually live life high on the hog without a penny to my name
I use Magic The Gathering cards for my barters lol
@@fabulous_finn7810what’s the going rate for a black lotus these days
To heck with history classes, I'm having my kid watch you.
I approve. (I'm a teacher).
No joke, as a teacher I turn to Townsends (and other quality RUclips videos) very often for quality educational content.
This is a treasure trove for sure! Also, ya might wanna check out the Junius Maltby channel.
Schools are becoming obsolete with the advent and success of RUclips. Do 2 hours of “school” (RUclips videos) per days, then play for the young and apprenticeships for the older kids. Don’t worry teachers…Kids still have to be guided to the right videos. 🤷🏻♂️🪙🪙
'Little Bub' later called the Justin Morgan horse after his owner, and founder of the Morgan horse breed, was thrown in with another horse as a part of a trade when schoolmaster Justin Morgan tried to collect on money owed him and the farmer didn't have any coinage with which to pay.
Figure
I love that the invention of paper money was supposedly a one time thing
Once the elites found out people would give them real stuff for fake paper money they couldn't stop using it to enrich themselves lol. So they did it again and again and again and still do it today. Even the coins are worthless now.
Jon - the "consummate storyteller". Thank you Jon...very, very enjoyable video
So glad to see this video. As a native of Massachusetts I found myself nodding in agreement as much as I was surprised. Middle schools should show this in class.
I really like these longer format deep dive videos. it allows nuance to be retained. I feel like in short videos of niche topics it becomes too distilled resulting in the idea "that everyone only used pieces of 8 and nothing else" for example.
Regarding 16:51, in addition to clipping or filing bits of precious metal from silver coins, another insidious method for profiteering was known as sweating. Sweating utilized a corrosive acid to partially the dissolve the surface of silver coins and then to spend the degraded coins at face value. The adulterated coins would resemble slightly worn coins as though by normal contact abrasion from circulation. The silver dissolved in acid would be recovered by chemical precipitation and be melted down as bullion.
One day American history lessons is just going to be students watching Townsends.
Until Townsend's go purple hair.
The production value is beautiful as always. The close-up shots of the detailing in the coins is a joy to watch. Got a glass of home brewed mead & a 35 minute Townsends video. Good times!
Well put into words! I agree 👍 💯
imagine a coin pouch filled with those gold coins, ooo yes
That gold coin looked so appealing, I instantly wanted one (or at least a reproduction using some jewelry gold).
I want one of those gold coins just so I can toss it around in my hand and look cool.
🤔 thievery
John - A video that I will use in my American history class this year! Thank you so much!
This certainly is one of your best and most thought provoking videos. Thank you for all your research and study on this and so many other subjects. I am a big fan of The Hoover Boys, a group of metal detectorist on the east coast. They turn up all kinds of coins of the variety you speak of. It is fun to see their excitement when rare coins are found. I recommend their vlogs to everyone interested in this subject. And I am sure they would find your video on the subject interesting too.
Don't forget Aquachigger, and Quarter Hoarder.
BUY BITCOIN!!!!
Never thought I would see Bitcoin being mentioned on this channel, but I'm not mad about it!
Me either, but If it gets people interested in history then I'm all for it.
Weird as it feels, it's that kind of connection that makes history what it is.
It’s an extension of what makes humans humans. We need a system to deal with who gets what. We’re constantly experimenting with how to make economic transactions equitable and fair for everyone involved. Barter, currency and money are just different ways of dealing with each other.
You never know what you got till it's gone. When there is no more money (as we know). That will be the end of privacy for everyone except the elites. They will tell you what you have and what you don't have. Thanks Bitcoin. If you don't like it they will just shut your account down till you can act right. People need to wake up. Oh yeah I am mad about it.
@@zombieSlayer-kn2rk privacy coins. Monero and pirate chain
When ever I hear pieces of 8 first thing that comes to mind are pirates
The Spanish Dollar was, for centuries, the most highly respected medium of exchange throughout European maritime trade and the Americas, where most of them were minted.
For me, it's the parrot in Treasure Island. "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Squawk!"
I'm realizing later in my life that I really enjoy learning, hording knowledge about almost anything and everything and categorically storing it in my brain shelf.
This is no exception. This was awesome!
the music in this one was excellent. Thank you JRP!
Very good explanation of money. Historically people have experimented with money and ledger systems. In the Mediterranean world much of the development of writing came from the use of ledger systems to track trade. At least in the Mediterranean, money came first next ledgers and third writing.
Excellent presentation. The quality of Townsend’s videos continues to climb. Congratulations to the team.
12:13 - Because of the global popularity of this coin, this is why stock market values were measured in eighths right up until the 1990s.
This was great. I never knew the relationship between farthings, pennies and shillings.
What a fascinating article , the production value is insane... I've been here since mushroom ketchup and it's been an amazing ride. Thanks Townsends et al.
I remember a time where i was pretty low on virtual currency, but i had a big pile of coins.
I would count it up in separate batches and wrap them in thin transparent film and write the value on the top.
So when it came time to pay for groceries it went quick and easy and also saved the cashier time.
Made me appreciate the value of physical currency again.
Nananana moomoo and the oracle are impressed by the production quality- he senses technical upgrades in the wind. Was this a sliding camera mount? The oracle wonders...
Your senses have not betrayed you
Please, lnquireing mind's would like to know!!!.
i gotta say, that scene in the tavern at around 7:30 was shot incredibly well, good camera work!
Learning from ppl like this in this fashion is how grade school should be. Not a waste of time going from class to class for the “teacher” to hand out homework so you can teach yourself at home
I love the music y'all use in the videos!!
What a fascinating video, very interesting especially the introduction of paper money. Brilliant.
But, sure, blame Canada for that paper mess, lol.
I learned some things I did not know before...Thank you Townsends for your usual fantastic content. Greetings from Ontario Canada
Thank you sir for this fascinating and educational video. Not only did I learn some wonderful history of money in this country, it's helped me with my RPG group. I am a Game Master for a small group and I'm getting ready to start a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Money and commerce will now factor significantly in the campaign world. Bravo!
Your channel is absolutely magical! Thank you John!
Thank you so much for another fabulous video. You guys out did yourselves. All the back study, the formatting and I don't even know about the filming and editing! Amazing!
This blew my mind. Utterly amazing production, terrific presentation, and fantastic information.
I loved those Nutmeg Tavern scenes, it felt so immersive and real with the candlelight, background noise, extras, etc. you really created a great atmosphere there! 👏👏👏
Absolutely love this. Your cooking videos are great, but general history is also such a welcome sight to see. Thank you!!!
I love these longer form documentary-style videos you produce, keep them up!
I love how wholesome and educational this channel is. I've been a sub for awhile and i'm so happy this is growing the way it is. Please keep the videos coming!
Love the theatrical reenactment in the tavern! You guys should do more of those scenes!!!
So excited that you made this video! I can't wait to show this to the kids I've been watching over summer. We have been learning about money and this video will be perfect to go along with our lessons. Thanks!
Omg, Townsends, the production quality is amazing! This is by far my favorite video in the channel, from the topic, the b roll, everything! I LOVED THIS, thank you!
Please keep it up! 😄
This is a wayyyy more interesting topic than I would have thought. Thank you for putting this together. Outstanding work, as usual :)
John I absolutely love your videos!! Keep up the great work!! God bless you and your family 🙏🏼
Just LOVE the episode!
What you did with the limitations of the relatively small setting of your nutmeg tavern: amazing!
I spent time growing up in a house that was built in 1793. It stood during every U.S. presidency, my grandfather restored the home beautifully and researched it with county deed records. I still have a paper drawn up telling how many pounds, shillings and pence it was bought and sold for throughout the centuries.
This was an amazing video. Very well put together. I know not everyone likes the longer videos but I definitely do.
Thanks for the great video!
I never cease to be amazed by the constant flow of quality content from Townsends. Good work, lads!
Excellent! Thank you so much for this work. I enjoyed it immensely.
Jon and team, your videos are such a gift of passion, knowledge, and comfort. You've gotten me through some tough times, and seeing you all grow together in both production quality and scope has been a great source of inspiration. Thank you for all you do, always the best day of the week when Townsends uploads.
Wow, i was going trough your old videos and the difference in production is astonishing. Channels like yours inspire me to produce my own things.
Thank you for the kinds words. We hope we've encouraged you to give it a try!
This was so fascinating! My favorite type of history is daily history, understanding how life was different in the past, and this is exactly the type of video I'd love to see more of in the future! Not that your cooking videos aren't also fantastic, but this really scratched an itch I didn't know I had!
I love these longer-form videos! Such a great topic, too. Thanks for clarifying what the deal was with all the different paper notes from that time.
So well-researched and beautifully done, John! I love your channel for the cooking videos, now I have to go back through to catch up on all the historical presentations, too! Thank you!
I love your videos. So informative! But also very ASMR, especially when I'm stressed out.
One of the best videos you guys have made in some time now
Thank you so much!
One of the finest channels on RUclips. The research and production levels are simply superb!
Bravo! Photography, script, music, editing. This is excellent work.
I suspect a whoever did the b-roll never, ever wants to look at a coin again. "We need 325 general use shots involving coins. Oh and you need to keep track of what coin is in what shot, and how many times that shot has been used." That's a LOT of work.
I thoroughly enjoy all of your videos. I keep thinking to myself, 'Townsends is creatively teaching us the skills we need for the times coming ahead.' Whether it's intentional or not, I am definitely learning. Thank you
Hello Julia
@@jacksonrodriguez2703 Hello
@@julias8277 Hi Julia
How are you doing today?
This is excellent Thank you so much for offering this kind of enriching and historically-significant material. You're continuing to shine a light on important aspects of our history.
Outstanding presentation on money in America. Very thorough and informative. One of your best, Jon.
This was simply an amazing video. Hats off to you! ;)
One of your best videos!
Thank you for such an educational video! The quality and effort you put in always shows, so thank you for sharing it with us 🙌🏼
You still manage to amaze us with the quality of videos like these! Thank you!
fascinating! Great camera work in this one I especially loved the close ups of the various coins. Loving the longer episodes. So much info here I will watch it again. Well done!
Hi
The best definition of what money is that I’ve heard is.
“Money is an idea.”
The value of money is just what people agree it is. When people lose confidence in the stated value of money, then there is collapse of said money. Usually this lack of confidence is a result of war. Particularly civil wars, when governments tend to over spend. Another reason could be an ineffective monarch. Of course these statements are somewhat less of a concern for gold coins or silver coins. The reason is the apparent value of the metal.
If you tried to use any one of those coins, seen in this episode today, many people would not take it as legal tender.
Rampant debasement would collapse the value of commodity coinage just as well as a stock market burst
@@AgentTasmania The solution lies then in eliminating usury and destroying the concept on interest on loans.
If there's more money than there's output, that means that somwehere in the middle of the flow, more "wealth" is being produced without _actually_ increasing the overall wealth.
Kinda like how the chinese keep their workforce rentable, by debasing their yuan and in turn doing so with all the countries that do trade with them.
@@glidershower
You are incorrect. The purpose of an interest rate is to allow for innovation. You may have an awesome idea, could be a new product or a new kind of store, but no means of getting it to the market. I may have a lot of the, “coin of the realm”, if all I can expect from loaning you some of the money is the same amount as I loaned out….well….I take all the risk and you take all the reward. It is like planting one seed and only getting one seed back. As a lender I am taking a risk that your business idea is as good as you claim.
An example. Your idea is not as good as you think and your business collapses you would still have to pay me back for what you borrowed. But with no penalty you would have no incentive to pay back in any hurry.
Conversely your idea is greater than you thought. Now you can pay back quickly what you borrowed but you keep everything else.
@@glidershower China's paper is not backed by anything either.
@@gusthewiseone3247 when someone says to eliminate interests it's not saying to eliminate loans.
But change them.
For one, we must stop allowing the printing of new money to back loans especially home loans it makes the value of the dollar too variable, loans should only be backed by the item bought. Its also a moral issue here, printing money for backing loans as we currently do means that banks are double dipping and getting paid twice plus interest 😐. And once is on our dollars value effectively using inflation as a tax to pay for itself.
two, under a certain square footage, accommodations and for primary residence, home loans and rent do not make broad economic sense. In some cases even allowing certain homes to be sold instead of given does not make sense. they just suck money out of circulation money that should be going to buying new innovative products. These things do need changing for innovation to have a strong customer base! With even a very small amount of very small cheap houses on the market for free all the unhoused Americans would become part of the push for innovation by becoming genuine customers instead of a problem driving customers away from stores, and one that would only take a 1% real estate sales tax to fix! Seems pretty inexpensive for a net boost to every business to me.
Also, the sentiment of changing loans generally comes with th sentiment of changing how stocks legally work. Or rather changing them back.
Currently stocks are ownership of the company. That means when ten different market management companies buy out most of your stocks your now obliged and forced to produce what you know will make a short term profit, regardless of the ten better ideas you have that will pay out better for the long term... and this makes little sense for innovation. Changing stock back to buying well actual stock as in what will go on the show room floor of a dozen companies at a bit above manufacturing cost in exchange for the final sale price but your buying before the manufacturing is done making it higher risk and higher reward then wholesaling.
Excellent production and sharing of history. Thank you!
Brilliant episode. Thanks for such an informative explanation of money throughout history. I enjoyed every minute of this production
Thank you. This content is amazing. It really helped me understand what is going on with money in america today, by getting historic context. Especially once we got to the part about printing inflationary paper money that people were forced to use when they didn't have the real money.
This is like some seriously top-tier content. Absolutely love the camera work and all of the info presented! You guys are awesome! 👍
Good show old boy!!! This made my night John, Keep up the good work!!!
I'm two minutes in and the cinematography is outstanding. So gorgeous to watch. What a great topic, too! Can't wait to finish this.
holy cow, what a beautiful video!!
I thought the enlistment bonus back then was forty schillings on the drum.
For those who volunteer to come
Wonderful! I'd love to see more of these more in-depth documentary style videos. I love seeing the Townsend's crew reenacting--that really brings it all to life. I come here for the immersive historical experience as well as the education, so this is the perfect sort of video for me. Great job!
Guys, the production quality all through this is fantastic. This is easily television documentary quality, as far as I can tell. Everyone involved with this clearly brought their best game to it. More like this, please. I know you probably don't have time to do a series for a streaming service or cable channel, but wow, you could do RUclips episodes for sure. The work and writing and filling quality that went into this, wow, thank you all so much! More of this, please. -- Your recent fishing / cooking / preservation episode also was excellent, this level of quality craftsmanship. Congratulations to the whole team! Be proud of your work, you all have outdone some of the pro docu stuff on those "used to be about history and learning and discovery" sorts of cable TV channels. (ahem)
Me, trying to pay using Canadian coins and broken pieces of copper: “If it worked for our forefathers, it should work for me!”
Mr Townsends, the History Teacher we all wish we had back in grade school 👊🏽👍🏽👏🏽
*And yes, especially with the nutmeg memes*
Outstanding video! Amazing music as well! Great job to all involved! Thank you all very much!
Thank you for making this informative video and, in general, for sharing your interests in this way
When you had this subject on a Friday live show, I loved the fact that you recognized my question as to what a half bit was. In the show Oklahoma, they are bidding at a picnic and going another two bits to outbid. 1800 something. I have no idea the exact time period the show is set in.
I have pesos that my dad saved from when he used to go for work for KC. They weren't worth much then.
The show takes place in 1907, the year Oklahoma was granted statehood. This news is mentioned right before the ending song “Oklahoma”: “A brand new state, gonna be great!” Statehood gave more benefits than being a territory. Keep asking questions, that’s how you find things out! 🙂
@@joanhoffman3702 I should have known that. I was in the show. Forgot the lyrics.
And i thought, german coinage of that time period was a nightmare! Very interesting to see it "over there". Thanks a lot!
Thanks for covering another new old topic! A favorite of mine and my father's!