As far back as just before our Civil War I made, in France and elsewhere, a large collection of documents which had appeared during the French Revolution, including newspapers, reports, speeches, pamphlets, illustrative material of every sort, and, especially, specimens of nearly all the Revolutionary issues of paper money, -from notes of ten thousand livres to those of one sou. Upon this material, mainly, was based a course of lectures then given to my students, first at the University of Michigan and later at Cornell ...
Read More
As far back as just before our Civil War I made, in France and elsewhere, a large collection of documents which had appeared during the French Revolution, including newspapers, reports, speeches, pamphlets, illustrative material of every sort, and, especially, specimens of nearly all the Revolutionary issues of paper money, -from notes of ten thousand livres to those of one sou. Upon this material, mainly, was based a course of lectures then given to my students, first at the University of Michigan and later at Cornell University, and among these lectures, one on "Paper Money Inflation in France." This was given simply because it showed one important line of facts in that great struggle; and I recall, as if it were yesterday, my feeling of regret at being obliged to bestow so much care and labor upon a subject to all appearance so utterly devoid of practical value. I am sure that it never occurred, either to my Michigan students or to myself, that it could ever have any bearing on our own country. It certainly never entered into our minds that any such folly as that exhibited in those French documents of the eighteenth century could ever find supporters in the United States of the nineteenth.
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. Size: 7x5x0; Very good paperback copy (NOT ex-library). Spine is uncreased, binding tight and sturdy; text is also very good. Exterior looks good, shelfwear is minor. An excellent copy. Ships same or next business day from Dinkytown in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This book by Andrew Dickson White was originally published in 1912. White was a historian, educator, diplomat and a scholar. The book traces the initiation and ultimate consequences of the paper money in revolutionary France in the 1790s.
It shows the devastating effects of a fiat money money program not only on the french economy but on the moral fiber of the nation. Probably the most interesting aspect of this book is the similarity of the arguments for a fiat money policy to those found in the monetary policy of the United States today. The disastrous consequences of such a policy are clearly shown. It's a reminder that those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.
