A MONEY TIMELINE

By Muriel Mobley

YEAR EVENT
~590 Solon writes new laws for Attica, cancels debts and removes stone markers (controversial).
~336 There are two sorts of wealth-getting,...one is a part of household management, the other is retail trade: the former necessary and honourable, while that which consists in exchange is justly censured; for it is unnatural, and a mode by which men gain from one another. The most hated sort, and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain of money itself, and not from the natural object of it. Aristotle, Politics, Bk I, Ch. 10.
303 Laws of the Twelve Tables appeared in Rome, defaulting debtors' families could be seized and sold into slavery.
~221 Qin Shihuangdi unifies China.
56 ...But meanwhile, before the empire of Rome became coextensive with Alexander's, the most immediate and decisive effect of the universal enthusiasm was to impel men to incur the most impossible obligations. Nearly every one was at once both creditor and debtor; men lent one another any little money they possessed, and borrowed again whenever they were in difficulties. Italian society had become an inextricable labyrinth of debit and credit, through the system of Syngraphae or letters of credit, which were negotiated in the same way as securities and bills of exchange today, because the scarcity of capital and the frequent oscillations in prices would have made it ruinous for them to be redeemed too frequently. Those who were in need of money attempted to sell to some financier the claims they had on other persons, and the financier would give cash payment, of course with a proportionate discount according to the prospects of the debt, the needs of the creditor and the condition of the money market... The Greatness and Decline of Rome, Guglielmo Ferrero, Vol. II, pg. 57.
44 Julius Caeser assassinated.
27 Octavian, adopted son of Julius, receives title of Augustus Caeser.
0000 Beginning of common era.
~330 Founding of Constantinople.
455 Rome sacked, beginning of Dark Ages of Europe.
~900 Byzantium begins decline while wealth and power of Venice and Genoa ascend.
1095 The first Crusade.
1147 The second Crusade.
1189 The third Crusade.
1203 The fourth Crusade.
1204 The fall of Constantinople.
1218 The fifth Crusade.
1248 The sixth Crusade.
1270 The seventh Crusade.
1307 Arrest of Knights Templar and confiscation of wealth by French Philip IV and Pope Clement V.
1492 Columbus blunders into "New World," later designated Americas, plunder and genocide of Americas begin.
1494 Double entry bookkeeping method published.
1497 Vasco de Gama sails around Africa to India, beginning of end of overland trade routes to the East and ascent of western Europe to financial and trade supremacy, also enhanced by looting of Americas.
1619 Black slaves brought to Virginia Colony.
1666-7 English King Charles II abandons sovereignty over coinage, beginning of "free" coinage.
1694 Bank of England chartered, beginning of modern central banking.
1709 First land enclosure act in England.
1741 English government begins suppression of Colonial money.
1764 Currency Act forbids Colonial paper money.
1776 Adam Smith publishes "Wealth of Nations" and "fathers" the nescience of economics.
  Thirteen North American Colonies declare independence from England.
1783 England accepts American independence.
1789 U. S. public debt at $75 millions.
1791 First central bank chartered in the U.S., banknotes receivable by government.
1792 Coinage Act in U.S. to establish standards for money coins of gold, silver, and copper; act inculcates "free" coinage.
1794 Alexander Hamilton leads troops in Whiskey Rebellion.
1805 Publication of An Inquiry Into the Permanent Causes of the Decline and Fall of Powerful and Wealthy Nations, by William Playfair, which documents beginning of exponential increase in English national debt coincident with founding of Bank of England.
1811 First U.S. Central bank charter expired.
1812 War of 1812, U.S. vs England.
1816 Second Central Bank chartered in the U.S.
1819 Serious recession in U.S. economy due to monetary contraction.
1836 Second U.S. Central bank charter expired.
1837 Serious recession in U.S. economy due to monetary contraction.
1861 U.S. Civil War begins, U.S.Public debt is $64.8 millions (1860)
$50,000,000 U. S. Notes authorized to help finance Civil War.
1862 <$10,000,000 additional U. S. Notes authorized.
$150,000,000 additional U. S. Notes authorized.
1863 Jan. 1, Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation.
1863 "National" Bank Act establishes de facto third U.S. central bank.
1864 "National" Bank Act revised.
1865 U.S.Civil War ends, Public debt is $2.68 billions.
1869 Credit Strengthening Act promised to pay U.S. debt in specie.
1873 Silver surreptitiously demonetized by limiting payment to $5.
1874 Disastrous recession in U.S. due to monetary contraction.
1878 Bland-Allison Act authorized purchase and minting of silver dollars, restored legal tender to silver dollars, with private contract escape clause.
1883 Recession in U.S. due to bank contraction of money.
1893 Sherman Silver Purchase Law repealed, U.S. fell into recession.
1907 First major U. S. recession of 20th Century.
1910 Proposal for U.S. central bank written in secret at Jekyll Island.
1913 U.S. central bank established by The Federal Reserve Act.
1917 U.S. enters WWI, Public debt is $5.7 billions.
1918 WWI ends, U.S. Public debt is $14.59 billions. .
1919 U.S. Public debt rises to $27.39 billions.
1920 First U.S. recession manipulated by Federal Reserve.
1929 Federal Reserve "crashes" Stock Market, ten year depression begins, Bank for International Settlements founded.
1933 FDRoosevelt inaugurated, New Deal begins, banks closed, domestic gold confiscated.
1934 Gold re-valued at $35 per ounce.
1935 Banking Act of 1935 finalizes Federal Reserve Open Market Committee to buy and sell U.S. securities for purpose of regulating bank reserves.
1937 U. S. economy takes downturn in spite of New Deal legislation.
1939 WWII begins.
1941 U.S. enters WWII, U.S. Public debt is $48.96 billions.
1944 United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, NH., charters IMF. (Interestingly, the UN did not officially exist)
1945 WWII ends, U.S. Public debt is $258.68 billions, IMF is instituted, World Bank founded.
1946 Public debt climbs to $269.42 billions.
1947 Public debt reduced to $258.28 billions, U.S. economy slumps.
1948 Public debt reduced to $252.29 billions, economy in recession.
1950 Korean War begins.
1953 Korean War truce, Public debt is $275.17 billions.
1957 Public debt is $274.89 billions with small budget surplus, economy in recession.
1960 Public debt at $290.21 with small budget surplus, economy goes into recession.
1961 Escalation of U.S. involvement in Viet Nam begins.
1964 Silver is demonetized in U. S.
1970 Public debt is $389.16 billions, economy in recession.
1971 Pres. Nixon decrees wage and price controls, closes international "gold window."
1973 Cease fire in Viet Nam.
1974 Public debt is $492.66 billions, economy in recession.
1979 Public debt is $845.11 billions, short recession.
1980 Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 expands regulatory power of Federal Reserve in typical legislative doublespeak. Savings and loan scandal follows.
1981 Public debt is $1,028.73 billions, economy goes into recession, massive deficit spending begins.
1987 Alan Greenspan appointed Chairman of Federal Reserve BofG, announces "soft landing" for U.S. economy.
1991 U.S. in worst post WWII recession.
1994 Genocide in Rwanda after Structural Adjustment Program applied by IMF.
1998 Jan. 14, Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of IMF, is in Indonesia to offer Structural Adjustment Program that requires 50% devaluation of Indonesian currency and 60% cut in wages to receive "bail-out" loan. Rioting shortly followed that was put down with military force. Suharto forced to step aside as head of government.
1998 Public debt of U.S. reaches $5.6 trillions.

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