Money as Speech
Mike Marotta
of The Mich-Matist of the Michigan State Numismatic Society. -- MEM)
"Money is property; it is not speech," wrote Justice John Paul Stevens
in Nixon v Shrink Missouri Government PAC, 528 U.S. 377 (2000), but in
fact, money is one of the oldest media for communication.
Writing was developed specifically for keeping track of debts and
payments. Poetry and all the rest came later. (See, How Writing Came
About by Denise Schmandt-Besserat.)
In the Roman republic and empire, coins were common instruments of
communication. Julius Caesar boosted his political career by
advertising his priesthood on the coins he and his allies issued. The
“Ides of March” denarius of Caesar’s assassin, Marcus Junius Brutus,
is highly sought at auction today. Over 2000 years ago, money was
political speech in a life and death struggle for power.
The year 1776 saw the publication of two of the greatest works in
history: The Wealth of Nations and the Declaration of Independence.
There is no separating political freedom from material prosperity. The
coins and paper of the American colonies, states, and central
governments carried a host of political messages, from “Mind Your
Business” to “We Are One.”
In the 1790s, British merchants met the need for small change with an
astronomical array of tokens. They advertised their shops, touted
their towns and made bold political statements. In 1794, the
shoemaker, Thomas Hardy, was the secretary to the London Corresponding
Society. His outspoken support for the French Revolution – including
his association with a play called :La Guillotine: or, George’s Head –
brought him from his shop at 161 Fleet Street to Old Bailey Prison on
charges of sedition. He was acquitted by his peers and his lawyers
struck a token to celebrate their skill and his good fortune. Today,
it is catalogued as Dalton and Hamer Middlesex 204, and you can own
one in uncirculated grade for about $150. Less socially strenuous, was
another that showed a spaniel: “Gratitude brings servitude,” it
warns. :”We were born free and will not be slaves.”
The abolition of slavery was one of the many topics in the popular
series of “Hard Times Tokens” from the Jacksonian Era. Partisans
heralded or lampooned Jackson – bluntly cartooned as a jackass –
Webster, Van Buren, and Benton. Such tokens are easiest to find in
circulated grades because for ten years they were passed from hand to
hand in daily commerce.
Civil War tokens fall into two broad categories: store cards and
politicals. These private issues filled a gap in commerce and carried
strong messages. Perhaps the most famous political token of the Civil
War shows an American flag: “If anyone dares to tear it down, shoot
him on the spot”
That American federal government money now carries the message, “In
God We Trust” comes from that same period. Among the other political
messages on our coins today are Liberty and E Pluribus Unum, with a
slew of others courtesy of the 50 State Quarter Program. Any
denomination of current American paper money carries about 20
different phrases, sentences, and word sets.
Perhaps the starkest political statement via money comes from
comparing two banknotes. One features Karl Marx. It was issued by the
communist government of the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until
1990. On the other hand, the privately-owned Clydesdale Bank of
Scotland issued a ₤50 note celebrating Adam Smith. Adam Smith is also
now commemorated on a Bank of England ₤20 issue. Founded in 1694, the
Bank was nationalized in 1946, but achieved nominal independence in
1997. Its governors and directors are appointed by the crown, making
it much like the American Federal Reserve, a nominally private entity
with close government supervision. It would be interesting to hear
what Adam Smith or Karl Marx might have said about that.
Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
"Writing is money."