MY FINALIZED RESEARCH ESSAY FOR DUAL CREDIT AMERICAN LITERATURE.

Hello, To all who may be interested I have finished the research essay that I posted a thread about a little over a month ago. Fortunately, I got a 194/200 for the essays and finished with a 101.7/100 in the class. In this essay, I made an arguement that the complex coinage system and debasement practices that were occurring during the 1700s made it more difficult and time-consuming for a slave named Olaudah Equiano, to buy his freedom due his status in society at the time. It is probably a little rough considering that I have always collected US coins, but still, due to its length, I might make it a little longer and self-publish it as an e-book. The essay starts in the paragraph below, sorry about its length.




Coins, familiar objects that “serve as a medium of exchange and measure of value” (Shaw). In the time of Olaudah Equiano they were extremely valuable objects, and in “The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African” multiple different coins from various countries are mentioned, ranging from the pence that was produced in England to the eight reals’ piece from Mexico. These coins obtained their value because of their metal content, which means that their worth could have easily been lowered by changing their composition, weight, or purity. Unfortunately, the value of the coins that one received during the era oftentimes represented the individuals’ social status. Provided Equiano was a slave, he likely received many of the altered coins while he was a merchant in the West Indies, which increased the amount time that it took for him to obtain his freedom; especially after taking into consideration the complex international currency system of the era.

Olaudah Equiano is an exceptional man with an exceptional story. He was “born in a small unknown Ibo village called Essaka” (Norman) and, after being captured by slave catchers as a young boy, subsequently through various unfortunate events he became a slave in the West Indies. Fortunately for him, he had various opportunities for education and freedom that the clear majority of slaves did not have. Due to a lot of hard work, and additional good luck in being able to attain relatively kind masters he was eventually able to purchase his freedom for forty pounds’ sterling in 1766. His amazing narrative describes the experience that he had while spending multiple years as a merchant in the West Indies, trading many different items until he had forty pounds’ sterling when he only started with a single half bit as capital.

Fundamentally, the basic structure that governed the financial system which Equiano lived in, specifically regarding the coins and paper money that circulated is very different from the system that we use today. To start, electric currency was impossible, and the money that was in circulation during the 1700s acquired monetary worth because of the metal that it was composed of. Because of this, all the coins that were produced by the government were composed of either copper, silver, or gold.

At the time, the basis of the global economic system was founded on slavery, the large amounts of silver that was mined in Mexico, and the vast amount of trade that they conducted with other countries. The Spanish produced a relatively large silver coin known as the eight reals’ piece, which is more formally known as the Spanish milled dollar (milled meaning produced by a machine) which “was a multiple of the Spanish real” (Pond). Surprisingly, this coin was referenced in the text simply as a dollar, which was its casual and informal name.

Many likely read this text, knowing that Equiano traveled to Philadelphia as a slave, and that Americas first federal mint was in that city likely wonder why none of America's currency was discussed, and this is likely because he did not know about it! During the mid-1700s, there were very few coins in circulation that were produced by a colonial government. These copper, and sometimes silver coins were so scares that most United States citizens did not know about them! The reason for this is because colonial America had a mineral deposit that was naturally very low. Logically, this caused the vast majority of the coins that circulated within the colonies to be foreign. This is reasonable considering that “When the English colonists arrived in America

they naturally continued to use the monetary units of Britain.” (Gore) In fact, coins were not mass produced by the United States government until 1793, and even then, foreign coins were so common in circulation that they were legal tender until 1857!

In regards to the English coinage system that was present, prior to nineteen seventy-one, mainly the pence, shilling, and pound were in circulation. One pound sterling was equal to twenty shillings, which was equal to two hundred and forty pence’s, (pennies) and as stated by Equiano himself “one half bit is equal to three pence in England” (Equiano 711) so, according to him there were forty-eight shillings in an eight reals’ piece or five hundred and seventy-six pennies.

To complicate matters further, there were various other coins that were mentioned in the book and utilized by Equiano such as the pistareen, and the guineas which were a part of, yet separate from the standard Spanish and English coinage systems. It was relatively simple to use a pistareen in commerce because, due to its design it could easily be broken into pieces to make small change, but the guineas were much more complicated because “they passed for 21/20 of one pound” (Cannan) or about or 3.5 bits.

Beyond this, during Equiano’s travels, he visited various islands that were owned by other nations such as the Dutch island of St.Eustatia or various French islands such as Guadeloupe, or Grenada. These locations were owned by nations that produced their own coinage, which likely meant that Equiano came across various Dutch and French coins such as the sol, guilder, or Ecu au Bandeau which further complicated the system containing the various coins that he used in trade.

Furthermore, every government that produced its own coinage had different standards that determined the weight and purity of their gold and silver coins in relation to each other. The different gold to silver ratios made it even more difficult for individuals such as Equiano to trade as oftentimes there were fractions of coins that simply could not be made out as change which left many “owing to variations in the rating of the gold and silver coins.” (Cannan) In fact, the coinage system of the 1700s was so complex at the time that premiums were placed on one coin over another, or for one metal over another in different locations. At the time “when ships were landing in the East Indies, the demand for silver rose to the price to five shilling eight pence per ounce, or five shillings six pence per ounce” (Newton) As opposed to the normal “five shilling, four pence” (Newton)

Furthermore, older coins were even present in circulation such as the “cob, Spanish pieces of eight of rough irregular shape” (Eong) and hammered English coins, both of which could easily be found in circulation. This complicated matters further, because due to their crude nature there was a lot of variation concerning the weight of the coins in circulation which made it necessary for their value to be evaluated individually.

Since Equiano was a slave, even though he had kind masters he likely was never told much of the above information due to the possibility that he may become a competitor of his master. This meant that if Equiano was given a slightly lower amount or money than he was supposed to receive, he likely would not know it.

Provided the historical context above regarding the monetary system and its complexities that were present during the era discussed in Equiano’s narrative we can start to analyze various other practices that were employed at the time that hurt Equiano’s chances of becoming a free man, which increased the amount of time that it took for him to obtain his freedom.

During the 1700s, there were many ways that a person could easily make a profit by decreasing a coin's intrinsic value because a coin’s metal content, weight, and purity determined its value, and anything that altered any of these three things affected the purchasing power that a coin had. Practices such as rim filling, clipping, and counterfeiting, were all very common, and decreased the value that a coin had in commerce. In fact, these practices were so common and profitable that “rulers would follow one of two tactics, both having the same effect, either to reduce the fine metallic content of coins or to increase the number of subsidiary units coined in larger denominations” (Shaw 77). Unfortunately, Equiano received many of these altered coins because of his status in society.

According to John Smedley, a coin dealer who specializes in selling world coins, “debasing currency was a very serious crime during the eighteenth century, that was often punishable by death” (Smedley) where he then proceeded to show me a twenty-shilling

continental note from 1773, that explicitly stated “to counterfeit is death” similar to the one depicted in figures one and two below.



Auctions__Herigage__digital image.fig 1. Auctions__Herigage__digital image.fig 2.

Of the multiple methods that were present coin filling was by far the most popular method of making a profit by decreasing a coin’s value, because it was difficult to detect, as it did not affect the design of a coin as long as it had a smooth edge. In this process “people would simply rub the edges of coins’ thousands of times until they got a small pile of silver” (Smedley). This method of coin debasement was something that affected many of the coins that Equiano received, especially because the tools required to complete the task were very simple and common in every household of the era. The only objects required was a silver or gold coin of some sort, a file, and a method of collecting the metal shavings. This method of coin debasement was especially common due to the community of crude Spanish cobs that were produced in the same denomination as the Spanish milled dollars, with the difference being that the cobs oftentimes had smooth edges. This method of debasement is the reason why starting in 1732 the Mexican mint started to produce coins with reeded edges. Despite this, coins that were minted prior to 1732 were still in circulation when Equiano was trading in the West Indies; which means that he received many of them while trading, especially considering that there was a very high volume of coinage going in and out of the West Indies due to the merchant activity in that location.

Another popular method of making a profit by reducing a coin’s value was a process known as clipping. Clipping is like rim filling in that small amounts of metal would be taken off a gold or silver coin to obtain bullion which was typically melted down in order to

make a profit. The difference between this method and rim filling, is the how much metal was taken off, and how it was taken off. In clipping, some shears or strong scissors were needed in addition to a file, but because the tools that were needed were still extremely simple and very common it is likely that many people in the West Indies clipped various coins that they received. Oftentimes English hammered were especially susceptible to clipping because, in the production process mint workers “held roughly-cut coin blank firmly between two dies to deliver a heavy blow to the top of the die with a mallet” (Eong) This process would oftentimes cause these coins to have some extra metal on them that went beyond the design which allowed people to clip off the extra material and make a profit without changing the design of the coin.

Furthermore, Spanish cobs were oftentimes even more susceptible because of their crude design. It was very rare for Spanish cobs to have a design that covered the entire coin, which allowed people to easily clip metal off them without anyone noticing, as depicted with the two reals’ piece in figures three and four below. Please note the flat edges and the amount of the coin that the design covered.




Spiegel 8



Auctions_Heritage_Figure 3 Auctions_Heritage_Figure 4

In addition, it was a very common practice for people to cut coins to make small change, which caused very sneaky people to “cut Spanish milled dollars into five or six pieces” (Bowers)

as opposed to the fourths that they were supposed to be in. The practice of cutting up eight reals’ pieces was very common in the American colonies when making small change because of the lack of it in circulation, which caused many smaller denomination coins to be slightly smaller and worth less than they were supposed to be. Considering that trade occurred very frequently between the West Indies and the colonies, the small altered coins circulated freely, which means that Equiano likely received many of these slightly smaller coins in the process of obtaining money to purchase his freedom, losing money every time.

Another thing that people did to make money by decreasing the value of the coins in circulation was to counterfeit them. At the time, people would typically melt silver or gold coins, add in metal that had a low value such as tin, copper, pewter, or zinc, and keep the remaining silver. Oftentimes, these coins either weighed less, or were less pure than the government standard. This endeavor was extremely profitable, but because individuals were producing different coins as opposed to simply altering them, counterfeiting was an offence that was much more serious than rim filling or clipping, where offenders were “Indicted for High- Treason, for counterfeiting the coin of the kingdom” (Bailey)

Even though the stakes were very high, many people evidently got away with what they did which is evidenced by how there are many court records of these crimes occurring, which oftentimes occurred at the expense of people such as Equiano.

In fact, there is even a specific occurrence where Equiano received a counterfeit coin. After “much entreaty, from both his captain and himself” (Equiano 717) A man that owed him money “paid him in dollars; some of them, however, were copper, and of consequence no value” (Equiano 717) In this instance, Equiano was taken advantage of because of his status in society.

The coins discussed were likely forged because eight reals’ pieces were never composed primarily of copper. Furthermore, a severe lack of knowledge regarding the international coinage system is displayed because copper coins still had value, which is represented by how the coins that had a face value of a penny or below were produced in copper.

This event was not the only instance where Equiano received coins that were worth less because of his social status, even though this is the only one that is specifically discussed in his text. The reason for this is because typically, coins were forged and debased on a much smaller scale by an amount that was likely considered normal to Equiano.

During the era that all of this was occurring, Olaudah was a slave and viewed as property, and therefore had a status in society that was much lower than any of the white people on the island. Because of his social status he “experienced many instances of ill usage and saw many injuries to other Negros in other dealings with white”. (Equiano 712) many of which were likely receiving coinage that had a value in trade that was lower than its face value.

Because, “Equiano remained in the West Indies from 1763 to 1766” (Equianos note) there were many opportunities for him to receive bad coins as a merchant, where he was especially venerable to all the practices discussed above. This idea is even clearer taking into consideration the high volume of trade that he had to conduct in the three years that he was in the West Indies which is evidenced by how he had to turn his initial capital of a half bit (three shillings) into forty pounds’ sterling (eight hundred shillings), and when taking into further consideration the perspective that other slave owners on the island had towards slaves.

In fact, there is even one instance during Equiano’s time as a merchant where he was going to trade “twelve bits worth of limes and oranges in two separate bags” (Equiano 710) when “Two white men presently took our three bags” (Equiano 710) (he had a friend with him whom had one bag of fruits). This understandably caused them to go to the commanding officer of the fort to “tell him how they had been received by his people” (Equiano 712). This caused the officer to “answer the complaints only by a volley of imprecations again them” (Equiano 712) where he then proceeded to take out a horse whip. After additional begging and pleading they were only able to receive Equiano’s bags of the fruits where he then “gave his friend nearly one third of his fruits”. (Equiano 712) Despite this misfortune, Equiano was still able to “sell his fruits uncommonly well for thirty-seven bits” (Equiano712). Still, if he had his other produce he would have received even more money, meaning he would have been able to obtain his freedom even quicker than he actually did. Furthermore, his friends circumstance was worse because his

loss in terms of percentage was much larger, which means that the effect that robbery had on his chances of gaining freedom was much worse.

Despite the poor treatment that was present, slaves were very valuable to their owners as Equiano “knew many slaves whose masters would not take a thousand pounds’ current for them” (Olaudah 708) This is very logical considering that many of the slave were extremely skilled as “nine tenths of the mechanics throughout the West Indies were negro slaves” (Equiano 708)

Out of all the slaves that were present in the West Indies, he likely had the best circumstance in comparison to the rest because he always had masters that were very kind to him.

Olaudah Equiano is an amazing man that lived an amazing life. Unlike the clear majority of the other slaves that lived during the 1700s, he was fortunate enough to have the ability to purchase his own freedom. Unfortunately, due to his social status and the general view towards slaves, he received coins that had a value far less than its accepted value in trade, which is especially true after taking into consideration that it was very easy for people to make money by decreasing a coin’s purity, composition, or weight.

This, combined with the very complex international monetary system that was present, explains why it took him much longer to save the forty pounds that was necessary for him to obtain his freedom then it would take if any white man tried to save the same amount of money using the same method of trade. Despite this, he was still able to purchase his freedom, challenge societies view on slavery, and the perspectives that slave owners had on the people they owned.

WORK CITED

Cannan, Edwin. The paper pound of 1797-1821 The Bullion Report 8th June 1810. Google Scholar. Taylor and Francis, 1970.

“Eighteenth century English coinage and trade.” Umich.n.d, http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/money/denom.html

Eong, Sim Ewe. “RINGGIT.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 47, no. 1 (225), 1974, pp. 58–65. Jstor, www.jstor.org/stable/41511014. Assessed 28 November 2016.

Equiano, Olaudah. “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olundah Equiano or Gustavasr Vassas, the African, Written by Himself”. 1789. The Norton Anthology American Literature. 8thed. WWNorton, n.d.

Franklin, Wayne. Gura, Philip. Klinkowitz, Jerome. Krupat, Arnold. Levine, Robert. Loeffelholz, Mary. Reesman, Jenne. Wallace, Patricia. The Norton Anthology American Literature. 8thed. WWNorton, n.d,

Gore, Robert. Jordan, Lewis. “The Comparative Value of Money between Britain and the Colonies.” University of Notre Dame, n.d, http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCurrency/CurrencyIntros/IntroValue.html

n.a. “Mexico: Philip III Cob 2 Reales ND (1607-1616) Mo-F AU50 NGC.” Heritage Auctions 15th October 2016, digital photograph

Newton, Isaac. “Sir Isaac Newton's Report on the Gold and Silver Coin in 1717.” The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society, vol. 11, 1848, pp. 181–185.Jstor, www.jstor.org/stable/42686170. Accessed 26 November 2016.

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Pond, Shepard. “The Spanish Dollar: The World's Most Famous Silver Coin.” Bulletin of the Business Historical Society, vol. 15, no. 1, 1941, pp. 12–16.Jstor,doi. 10.2307/3111072. Assessed 26 November 2016.

Sellers, Hall. “Pennsylvania October 1, 1773 20 Shillings Fr. PA-169. PCGS About New 53PPQ.” Heritage Auctions, n.d, digital photograph.

Shaw, Robert. “History of the Dollar.” The Analysts Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 1958, pp. 77–79, Jstor. www.jstor.org/stable/4529336. Accessed 26 November 2016.

Smedley, John. Personal interview. 19 November 2016.

Yeoman, R. Edited by Kemmeth Bressett. Introduction by Bowers,David. “The official Guidebook of United States Coins.” Whitman Publishing, LLC.n.d.

Important note about David Bowers: David Bowers is by far the most reputable numismatic expert and has been a crucial contributor in numismatics for many decades, and is well known for the literature that he has produced about coins.

 

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Very nice.