Gold Certificates
Rob just sent me a link to this pretty cool "$10 bill", noting that "it's hard to believe it existed less than 100 years ago":
In reading up on the man pictured on the bill, I came across this:
Michael Hillegas was first called Treasurer of the United States on May 14, 1777. Hillegas continued as sole Treasurer of the United States and held that position throughout the remainder of the conflict of the American Revolution, using much of his own fortune to support the cause. (emphasis added)I never can understand how people think, that if the populace agrees with and understands the nature and requirements of a free society, they won't contribute to it. This is just another example demolishing that notion.
posted by Amit Ghate at 1:46 PM
3 Comments:
The history of America is just chock full of that kind of thing, showing how a society of sovereign and moral private individuals solve the so-called "tragedies of the commons" and other such problems cited in arguments against the absolutism of individual rights.
Thanks Jim, I agree, which is why that argument always seems strange to me.
BTW, if you have any favorite examples, please feel free to post them.
Amit, I wish I had them handy. But that's the problem -- they aren't handy at all. They lie in old history books and archived newspaper articles everywhere, almost completely forgotten. I only see them when some columnist or blogger digs them up -- and I always shake my head that more stuff like that isn't being brought back.
One example that is fresh in memory because of being recently mentioned on Harry Binswanger's list, is the story of Davey Crockett and the man who showed him why even the smallest government charity was thoroughly un-Constitutional and un-American.
Someone needs to start a web site with such stories, both from history and from current events. I'd do it if I had the time.
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