The more we dig, the more land-based currencies schemes we seem to dig up. Thomas Mendenhall was the author of two pamphlets proposing currencies “bottomed” (as he put it) in land value. These works influenced Edward Kellogg, subject of an ongoing debate with Adrian Kuzminski, who in turn influenced William B. Greene. The first of these pamphlets was National money, or a simple system of finance: which will fully answer the demands of trade, equalize the value of money, and keep the government out of the hands of stock-jobbers, published in 1816 by “A Citizen of Washington.” References in his 1834 pamphlet, An entire new plan for a national currency: to which is added a plan for a national bank, clearly identify the National Money as his work and Chester McArthur Destler cites both works as influences on Kellogg. I’ll comment a bit more on the contents of these once the second pamphlet is ready for the archive.
