THE CIRCULATION OF FOREIGN COINAGE: AN AMERICAN RESPONSE, CA. 1750–1857 by Jesse C. Kraft A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Summer 2019 © 2019 Jesse C. Kraft All Rights Reserved THE CIRCULATION OF FOREIGN COINAGE: AN AMERICAN RESPONSE, CA. 1750–1857 by Jesse Kraft Approved: __________________________________________________________ James M. Brophy, Ph.D. Interim Chair of the Department of History Approved: __________________________________________________________ John A. Pelesko, Ph.D. Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Approved: __________________________________________________________ Douglas J. Doren, Ph.D. Interim Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: __________________________________________________________ Katherine C. Grier, Ph.D. Professor in charge of dissertation I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: __________________________________________________________ Owen White, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: __________________________________________________________ Catharine Dann Roeber, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: __________________________________________________________ Peter van Alfen, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee ACKNOWLEDGMENTS When you trip, you fall. Fortunately, I have a coterie of people willing to help me up again. First and foremost, my advisor, Dr. Katherine C. Grier who—on more than one occasion through the battle that is graduate school—picked me up, dusted me off, and kept me fighting. Without Kasey, I would not have finished the first round. Dr. Owen White is another professor and unofficial advisor to whom I am forever indebted for his willingness to stand up for me in the face of adversaries—again, on more than one occasion. I would like to thank Dr. Catharine Dann Roeber and Dr. Peter van Alfen, who—along with Kasey and Owen—read the entirely of this work, provided me with valuable feedback, and gave me the go-ahead to progress in life. I would also like to thank Dr. J. Ritchie Garrison, who—also along with Kasey and Owen—saw me through the completion of qualifying exams and the dissertation prospectus. At Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, I would like to thank Jeanne Solensky and Laura Parrish for retrieving hundreds of primary documents from the Joseph Downs Collection—truly an incredible resource. I would also like to thank Dr. Joelle Wickens, Laura Mina, William Donnelly, Kate Sahmel, Melissa King, Rachel Sepielli, and Gail Bush: a dedicated a talented group of conservators whose eyes glazed over every time I talked about my work on cultural history. Finally, the people for whom I did all of this work: my wife Natalie, and my daughters Jemma and Ruby. They keep me going each and every day. Without them, my mother, father and stepmother, or my sister, what is the point? iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. xv Chapter 1 THE CIRCULATION OF FOREIGN COINAGE IN THE UNITED STATES: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 1 The Foreign Coinage that Circulated in the United States ................................. 3 Scope and Chapters .......................................................................................... 11 Historiography .................................................................................................. 19 2 ARITHMETIC, ALMANACS, AND ACCOUNT BOOKS: 18TH- AND 19TH-CENTURY APPROACHES TO RECKONING FOREIGN COINAGE IN THE UNITED STATES ........................................................... 39 A Common Unit of Account ............................................................................ 41 Sources of Knowledge ...................................................................................... 45 The Various Modes of Conversion ................................................................... 55 Rates of Exchange ............................................................................................ 67 Accounting for Foreign Coinage ...................................................................... 71 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 78 3 “CLUNG TO THEIR WELL WORN SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCES”: HOW THE SPANISH DOLLAR INFLUENCED PRICING STRUCTURES IN THE UNITED STATES, CA. 1740–1880 ....................... 85 From English Shillings to Colonial Shillings: Depreciation of the Dollar, 17th and 18th Centuries ...................................................................................... 88 From Colonial Shillings to State Shillings ....................................................... 92 “Instruments of Retail Reckoning”: 19th Century Usage of State Shillings ... 100 “Smooth Fips and Levies,” Gresham’s Law, and the Coinage Act of 1857 .. 111 Shifting Prices Away from Shillings-Pence: the Late-19th Century ............... 126 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 133 v 4 “EQUIPOISE IS LOST”: THE PROLIFERATION OF COUNTERFEIT AND LIGHTWEIGHT FOREIGN COINAGE, AND THE DIFFICULTY OF EVALUATING THEM ............................................................................ 145 Counterfeit and Lightweight Foreign Coinage in the United States .. 147 The Use of Money Scales to Identify Counterfeit and Lightweight Foreign Coinage ................................................................................. 162 The Distrust of Money Scales and Weights ....................................... 172 Counterfeit Detectors .......................................................................... 194 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 199 5 “A KNOWN COIN, AND THE MOST FAMILIAR OF ALL TO THE MINDS OF THE PEOPLE:” FAMILIARITY AND THE CIRCULATION OF FOREIGN COINAGE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1781–1857 ............ 213 Accommodating the Familiarity of Foreign Coinage with the United States Dollar ....................................................................................... 215 Sentiments toward the Foreign Coinage that Circulated in the United States, 1790s–1840s ........................................................................... 231 Changed Coins, Changed Sentiments: 1840s–1850s ......................... 240 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 255 6 THE CIRCULATION OF FOREIGN COINAGE IN THE UNITED STATES: SUMMARIZATION, CONTRIBUTIONS, AND FUTURE WORK ............................................................................................................ 265 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 272 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 — Spanish-American Coinage .......................................................................... 5 Table 2 — British Coinage ............................................................................................. 7 Table 3 — Portuguese-American Coinage ..................................................................... 8 Table 4 — French Coinage ........................................................................................... 10 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Payment by Joseph Sturgis to Thomas Shields, December 7, 1776. Thomas Shields, Daybook, 69. The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Folio 27. ...................................................................... 1 Figure 2 The three different types of Spanish-American eight-reales coins, known as dollars in British-American colonies. (top) Eight reales of Philip V, ca.1700–1728, Mexico City, known as a cob; American Numismatic Society, 1964.198.2. (center) Eight reales of Charles III, 1771, Mexico City, known as a “pillar dollar”; American Numismatic Society, 1991.78.135. (bottom) Eight reales of Charles III, 1784, Mexico City; American Numismatic Society, 1947.47.136. ................... 35 Figure 3 Copper halfpenny of George III, Great Britain, 1774; American Numismatic Society, 1949.65.44. Silver shilling of George II, Great Britain, 1739; American Numismatic Society,1901.21.28. Gold guinea of George III, Great Britain, 1775; American Numismatic Society,