Thomas Jefferson - Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson

T >> Thomas Jefferson >> Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson

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All attempts to delude the people, or to abuse their understanding by
exercise of the pretended arts of witchcraft, conjuration, enchantment,
or sorcery, or by pretended prophecies, shall be punished by ducking and
whipping, at the discretion of a jury, not, exceeding fifteen stripes.*

*'Gifwiecan owwe wigleras mansworan, owwe morthwyrhtan owwe
fule afylede eebere horcwenan ahwhar on lande wurthan
agytene, thonne fyrsie man of earde, and claensie lha.
theode, owwe on earde forfare hi mid ealle, buton hi
geswican and the deoper gebetan:' 'if witches, or weirds,
man-swearers, or murther-wroughters, or foul, defiled, open
whore-queens, ay--where in the land were gotten, then force
them off earth, and cleanse the nation, or in earth forth-
fare them withal, buton they beseech, and deeply better.'
LI. Ed. et Guthr. c. 11. 'Saga; mulieres barbara
factitantes sacrificia, aut pestiferi, si cui mortem
intulerint, neque id inficiari poterint, capitis pcena
esto.' LI. Aethelst. c. 6. apud Lambard. LI. Aelfr. 30. LI.
Cnuti. c. 4. 'Mesmo eel jugement (d'etrears) eyent
sorcers, et sorceresses,' &c. ut supra. Fleta tit et ubi
supra. 3 Inst. 44. Trial of witches before Hale, in 1664.
The statutes 33 H. 8. c. 8. 5. El. c. 16 and 1. Jac. 1. c.
12. seem to be only in confirmation of the Common law. 9 G.
2. c. 25. punishes them with pillory and a year's
imprisonment 3 E. 6 c 15. 5 El. c. 15. punish fond,
fantastical, and false prophecies, by fine and imprisonment.

If the principal offenders be fled,* or secreted from justice, in any
case not touching life or member, the accessaries may, notwithstanding,
be prosecuted as if their principal were convicted.**

* 1 Ann. c. 9. Sec. 2.

**As every treason includes within it a misprision of
treason, so every felony includes a misprision, or
misdemeanor. 1 Hale P. C. 652. 75S. 'Licet fuerit felonia,
tamen in eo continetur misprisio.' 2 R. 3.10. Both principal
and accessary, therefore, may be proceeded against in any
case, either for felony, or misprision, at the Common law.
Capital cases not being mentioned here, accessaries to them
will of course be triable for misprisions, if the offender
flies.

If any offender stand mute of obstinacy,* or challenge preremp-torily
more of the jurors than by law he may, being first warned of the
consequence thereof, the court shall proceed as if he had confessed the
charge,**

* 3E. I.e. 12.

** Whether the judgment of penance lay at Common law. See 2
Inst. 178.2. H. P. C. 321. 4 Bl. 322. It was given on
standing mute: but on challenging more than the legal
number, whether that sentence, or sentence of death is to be
given, seems doubtful. 2 H. P. C. 316. Quaere, whether it
would not be better to consider the supernumerary challenge
as merely void, and to proceed in the trial. Quaere too, in
case of silence.

Pardon and privilege of clergy shall henceforth be abolished, that none
may be induced to injure through hope of impunity. But if the verdict be
against the defendant, and the court, before whom the offence is
heard and determined, shall doubt that it may be untrue for defect of
testimony, or other cause, they may direct a new trial to be had.*

* 'Cum Clericus sic de crimine convictus degradetur, non
sequitur aliapoe-na pro uno delicto, vel pluribus ante
degradationem perpetratis. Satis enim sufficit ei pro pcena
degradatio, quse est magna capitis diminutio, nisi forte
convictus fuerit de apostatia, quia hinc primo degradetur,
et postea per manum laicalem comburetur, secundum quod
accidit in concilio Oxoni celebrato a bonas memoriae S.
Cantuaren. Archiepiscopo de quodam diacono, qui seapos-
tatavit pro quadam Judaea; qui cum esset per episcopum
degradatus, statim fuit igni traditus per manum laicalem.'
Bract. L. 3. c. 9. Sec. 2. 'Et mesme eel jugement (i. e. qui
ils soient ars) eye n't sorcers et sorceresses, et sodomites
et mescreauntz apertement atteyntz.' Britt. c. 9.
'Christiani autem Apostatae, sortilegii, et hujusmodi
detractari debent et comburi.' Fleta, L. 1. c. 37. Sec. 2. see
3 Inst. 39; 12 Rep. 92; 1 H. P. C. 393. The extent of the
clerical privilege at the Common law, 1. As to the crimes,
seems very obscure and uncertain. It extended to no case
where the judgment was not of life or limb. Note in 2. H. P.
C. 326. This, therefore, excluded it in trespass, petty
larceny, or killing _se defendendo_. In high treason against
the person of the King, it seems not to have been allowed.
Note 1 H. P. C. 185. Treasons, therefore, not against the
King's person immediately, petty treasons and felonies, seem
to have been the cases where it was allowed; and even of
those, not for _insidiatio viarum, depopulatio agrorum, or
combustio domorum_. The statute de Clero, 25 E. 3. st. 3. c.
4. settled the law on this head. 2. As to the persons, it
extended to all clerks, always, and toties quoiies. 2 H. P.
C. 374. To nuns also. Fitz. Abr. Coron. 461. 22 E. 3. The
clerical habit and tonsure were considered as evidence of
the person being clerical. 26 Assiz. 19 & 20 E. 2. Fitz.
Coron. 233. By the 9 E. 4. 28. b. 34 H. 6. 49. a. b. simple
reading became the evidence. This extended impunity to a
great number of laymen, and toties quoties. The stat. 4 H.
7. c. 13. directed that real clerks should upon a second
arraignment, produce their orders, and all others to be
burnt in the hand with M. or T. on the first allowance of
clergy, and not to be admitted to it a second time. A
heretic, Jew, or Turk, (as being incapable of orders) could
not have clergy. H Co. Rep. 29. b. But a Greek, or other
alien, reading in a book of his own country, might. Bro.
Clergie. 20. So a blind man, if he could speak Latin. Ib.
21. qu, 11. Rep. 29. b. The orders entitling the party were
bishops, priests, deacons, and sub-deacons, the inferior
being reckoned Clerici in minoribus. 2 H. P. C. 373. Quaere,
however, if this distinction is not founded on the stat. 23.
H. 8. c. 1; 25. H. 8. c. 32. By merely dropping all the
statutes, it should seem that none but clerks would be
entitled to this privilege, and that they would, toties
quoties.

No attainder shall work corruption of blood in any case.

In all cases of forfeiture, the widow's dower shall be saved to her,
during her title thereto; after which it shall be disposed of as if no
such saving had been.

The aid of Counsel,* and examination of their witnesses on oath, shall
be allowed to defendants in criminal prosecutions.

* 1 Ann. c. 9.

Slaves guilty of any offence* punishable in others by labor in the
public works, shall be transported to such parts in the West Indies,
South America, or Africa, as the Governor shall direct, there to be
continued in slavery.

* Manslaghter, counterfeiting, arson, asportation of
vessels, robbery, burglary, house-breaking, horse-stealing,
larceny.

[NOTE F.]--Coinage for the United States

_On the Establishment of a Money Unit, and of a Coinage for the
United States_.

In fixing the Unit of Money, these circumstances are of principal
importance.

I. That it be of _convenient_ size to be applied as a measure to the
common money transactions of life.

II. That its parts and multiplies be in an _easy proportion_ to each
other, so as to facilitate the money arithmetic;

III. That the Unit and its parts, or divisions, be _so nearly of the
value of some of the known coins_, as that they may be of easy adoption
for the people.

The Spanish Dollar seems to fulfil all these conditions.

I. Taking into our view all money transactions, great and small, I
question if a common measure of more _convenient size_ than the Dollar
could be proposed. The value of 100, 1000, 10,000 dollars is well
estimated by the mind; so is that of the tenth or the hundredth of a
dollar. Few transactions are above or below these limits. The expediency
of attending to the size of the Money Unit will be evident to any one
who will consider how inconvenient it would be to a manufacturer or
merchant, if instead of the yard for measuring cloth, either the inch or
the mile had been made the Unit of Measure.

II. The most _easy ratio_ of multiplication and division is that by ten.
Every one knows the facility of Decimal Arithmetic. Every one remembers,
that, when learning Money-Arithmetic, he used to be puzzled with adding
the farthings, taking out the fours and carrying them on; adding
the pence, taking out the twelves and carrying them on; adding the
shillings, taking out the twenties and carrying them on; but when he
came to the pounds, where he had only tens to carry forward, it was easy
and free from error. The bulk of mankind are school-boys through
life. These little perplexities are always great to them. And even
mathematical heads feel the relief of an easier, substituted for a more
difficult process. Foreigners, too, who trade or travel among us, will
find a great facility in understanding our coins and accounts from this
ratio of subdivision. Those who have had occasion to convert the Livres,
sols, and deniers of the French; the Gilders, stivers, and frenings of
the Dutch; the Pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings of these several
States, into each other, can judge how much they would have been aided,
had their several subdivisions been in a decimal ratio. Certainly, in
all cases, where we are free to choose between easy and difficult modes
of operation, it is most rational to choose the easy. The Financier,
therefore, in his report, well proposes that our Coins should be in
decimal proportions to one another. If we adopt the Dollar for our Unit,
we should strike four coins, one of gold, two of silver, and one of
copper, viz.

1. A golden piece, equal in value to ten dollars:

2. The Unit or Dollar itself, of silver:

3. The tenth of a Dollar, of silver also:

4. The hundreth of a Dollar, of copper.

Compare the arithmetical operations, on the same sum of money expressed
in this form, and expressed in the pound sterling and its divisions.

A bare inspection of the above operations, will evince the labor which
is occasioned by subdividing the Unit into 20ths, 240ths, and 960ths,
as the English do, and as we have done; and the ease of subdivision in
a decimal ratio. The same difference arises in making payment. An
Englishman, to pay L8 13s. 11d. 1/2qrs. must find, by calculation,
what combination of the coins of his country will pay this sum; but an
American, having the same sum to pay, thus expressed $38.65, will know,
by inspection only, that three golden pieces, eight units or dollars,
six tenths, and five coppers, pay it precisely.

III. The third condition required is, that the Unit, its multiples, and
subdivisions, coincide in value with some of the known coins so nearly,
that the people may, by a quick reference in the mind, estimate their
value. If this be not attended to, they will be very long in adopting
the innovation, if ever they adopt it. Let us examine, in this point of
view, each of the four coins proposed.

1. The golden piece will be 1/5 more than a half joe and 1/15 more than
a double guinea. It will be readily estimated, then, by reference to
either of them; but more readily and accurately as equal to ten dollars.

2. The Unit, or Dollar, is a known coin, and the most familiar of all to
the minds of the people. It is already adopted from South to North; has
identified our currency, and therefore happily offers itself as a
Unit already introduced. Our public debt, our requisitions, and their
apportionments, have given it actual and long possession of the place of
Unit. The course of our commerce, too, will bring us more of this than
of any other foreign coin, and therefore renders it more worthy of
attention. I know of no Unit which can be proposed in competition with
the Dollar, but the Pound. But what is the Pound? 1547 grains of fine
silver in Georgia; 1289 grains in Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, and New Hampshire; 1031 grains in Maryland, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; 966 grains in North Carolina and New York.
Which of these shall we adopt? To which State give that pre-eminence of
which all are so jealous? And on which impose the difficulties of a new
estimate of their corn, their cattle, and other commodities? Or shall we
hang the pound sterling, as a common badge, about all their necks? This
contains 1718 grains of pure silver. It is difficult to familiarize a
new coin to the people; it is more difficult to familiarize them to a
new coin with an old name. Happily, the Dollar is familiar to them all,
and is already as much referred to for a measure of value, as their
respective provincial pounds.

3. The tenth will be precisely the Spanish bit, or half pistereen. This
is a coin perfectly familiar to us all. When we shall make a new coin,
then, equal in value to this, it will be of ready estimate with the
people.

4. The hundredth, or copper, will differ little from the copper of the
four Eastern States, which is 1/108 of a dollar; still less from the
penny of New York and North Carolina, which is 1/96 of a dollar;
and somewhat more from the penny or copper of Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and Maryland, which is 1/90 of a dollar. It will be about the
medium between the old and the new coppers of these States, and will
therefore soon be substituted for them both. In Virginia, coppers have
never been in use. It will be as easy, therefore, to introduce them
there of one value as of another. The copper coin proposed, will be
nearly equal to three fourths of their penny, which is the same with the
penny lawful of the Eastern States.

A great deal of small change is useful in a State, and tends to reduce
the price of small articles. Perhaps it would not be amiss to coin
three, more pieces of silver, one of the value of five tenths, or half
a dollar, one of the value of two tenths, which would be equal to the
Spanish pistereen, and one of the value of five coppers, which would be
equal to the Spanish half-bit. We should then have five silver coins,
viz.

1. The Unit or Dollar:

2. The half dollar or five tenths:

3. The double tenth, equal to 2/10, or one fifth of a dollar, or to the
pistereen:

4. The tenth, equal to a Spanish bit:

5. The five copper piece, equal to 5/100 or one twentieth of a dollar,
or the half-bit.

The plan reported by the Financier is worthy of his sound judgment. It
admits, however, of objection, in the size of the Unit. He proposes that
this shall be the 1440th part of a dollar; so that it will require 1440
of his units to make the one before proposed. He was led to adopt this
by a mathematical attention to our old currencies, all of which this
Unit will measure without leaving a fraction. But as our object is to
get rid of those currencies, the advantage derived from this coincidence
will soon be past, whereas the inconveniences of this Unit will for
ever remain, if they do not altogether prevent its introduction. It
is defective in two of the three requisites of a Money Unit. 1. It is
inconvenient in its application to the ordinary money transactions.
10,000 dollars will require eight figures to express them, to wit,
14,400,000 units. A horse or bullock of eighty dollars' value, will
require a notation of six figures, to wit, 115,200 units. As a money
of account, this will be laborious, even when facilitated by the aid
of decimal arithmetic: as a common measure of the value of property,
it will be too minute to be comprehended by the people. The French are
subjected to very laborious calculations, the Livre being their ordinary
money of account, and this but between 1/5 and 1/6 of a dollar; but what
will be our labors, should our money of account be 1/1440 of a dollar
only? 2. It is neither equal, nor near to any of the known coins in
value.

If we determine that a Dollar shall be our Unit, we must then say with
precision what a Dollar is. This coin, struck at different times,
of different weights and fineness, is of different values. Sir Isaac
Newton's assay and representation to the Lords of the Treasury, in 1717,
of those which he examined, make their values as follows:

[Illustration: Sir Isaac Newton's Assay, page137]

The Seville piece of eight . . . . 387 grains of pure silver
The Mexico piece of eight . . . . 385 1/2 "
The Pillar piece of eight . . . . 385 3/4 "
The new Seville piece of eight . . 308 7/10 "

The Financier states the old Dollar as containing 376 grains of fine
silver, and the new 365 grains. If the Dollars circulating among us be
of every date equally, we should examine the quantity of pure metal in
each, and from them form an average for our Unit. This is a work proper
to be committed to mathematicians as well as merchants, and which should
be decided on actual and accurate experiment.

The quantum of alloy is also to be decided. Some is necessary, to
prevent the coin from wearing too fast; too much, fills our pockets with
copper, instead of silver. The silver coin assayed by Sir Isaac Newton,
varied from 1 1/2 to 76 pennyweights alloy, in the pound troy of mixed
metal. The British standard has 18 dwt.; the Spanish coins assayed by
Sir Isaac Newton, have from 18 to 19 1/2 dwt.; the new French crown has
in fact 19 1/2, though by edict it should have 20 dwt., that is 1/12.

The taste of our countrymen will require, that their furniture plate
should be as good as the British standard. Taste cannot be controlled
by law. Let it then give the law, in a point which is indifferent to a
certain degree. Let the Legislatures fix the alloy of furniture plate
at 18 dwt., the British standard, and Congress that of their coin at one
ounce in the pound, the French standard. This proportion has been found
convenient for the alloy of gold coin, and it will simplify the system
of our mint to alloy both metals in the same degree. The coin too, being
the least pure, will be the less easily melted into plate. These reasons
are light, indeed, and, of course, will only weigh, if no heavier ones
can be opposed to them.

The proportion between the values of gold and silver is a mercantile
problem altogether. It would be inaccurate to fix it by the popular
exchanges of a half Joe for eight dollars, a Louis for four French
crowns, or five Louis for twenty-three dollars. The first of these,
would be to adopt the Spanish proportion between gold and silver;
the second, the French; the third, a mere popular barter, wherein
convenience is consulted more than accuracy. The legal proportion in
Spain is 16 for 1; in England, 15 1/2 for 1; in France, 15 for 1.
The Spaniards and English are found, in experience, to retain an over
proportion of gold coins, and to lose their silver. The French have a
greater proportion of silver. The difference at market has been on the
decrease. The Financier states it at present, as at 141/2 for one. Just
principles will lead us to disregard legal proportions altogether; to
inquire into the market price of gold, in the several countries with
which we shall principally be connected in commerce, and to take an
average from them. Perhaps we might, with safety, lean to a proportion
somewhat above par for gold, considering our neighborhood and commerce
with the sources of the coins, and the tendency which the high price
of gold in Spain has, to draw thither all that of their mines, leaving
silver principally for our and other markets. It is not impossible that
15 for 1, may be found an eligible proportion. I state it, however, as a
conjecture only.

As to the alloy for gold coin, the British is an ounce in the pound; the
French, Spanish, and Portuguese differ from that, only from a quarter of
a grain, to a grain and a half. I should, therefore, prefer the
British, merely because its fraction stands in a more simple form, and
facilitates the calculations into which it enters.

Should the Unit be fixed at 365 grains of pure silver, gold at 15 for 1,
and the alloy of both be one twelfth, the weights of the coins will be
as follows:

[Illustration: Projected Coin Weights, page138]

The quantity of fine silver which shall constitute the Unit,
being-settled, and the proportion of the value of gold, to that of
silver; a table should be formed from the assay before suggested,
classing the several foreign coins according to their fineness,
declaring the worth of a pennyweight or grain in each class, and that
they shall be lawful tenders at those rates, if not clipped or otherwise
diminished; and where diminished, offering their value for them at the
mint, deducting the expense of re-coinage. Here the Legislatures should
co-operate with Congress, in providing that no money be received or paid
at their treasuries, or by any of their officers, or any bank, but on
actual weight; in making it criminal, in a high degree, to diminish
their own coins, and, in some smaller degree, to offer them in payment
when diminished.

That this subject may be properly prepared and in readiness for Congress
to take up at their meeting in November, something must now be done. The
present session drawing to a close, they probably would not choose to
enter far into this undertaking themselves. The Committee of the States,
however, during the recess, will have time to digest it thoroughly, if
Congress will fix some general principles for their government. Suppose
they be instructed,--

To appoint proper persons to assay and examine, with the utmost
accuracy practicable, the Spanish milled dollars of different dates in
circulation with us.

To assay and examine, in like manner, the fineness of all the other
coins which may be found in circulation within these states.

To report to the Committee the result of these assays, by them to be
laid before Congress.

To appoint, also, proper persons to inquire what are the proportions
between the values of fine gold and fine silver, at the markets of the
several countries with which we are, or probably may be, connected in
commerce; and what would be a proper proportion here, having regard
to the average of their values at those markets, and to other
circumstances, and to report the same to the Committee, by them to be
laid before Congress.

To prepare an Ordinance for establishing the Unit of Money within these
States; for subdividing it; and for striking coins of gold, silver, and
copper, on the following principles.

That the Money Unit of these States shall be equal in value to a Spanish
milled dollar containing so much fine silver as the assay, before
directed, shall show to be contained, on an average, in dollars of the
several dates in circulation with us.

That this Unit shall be divided into tenths and hundredths; that there
shall be a coin of silver of the value of a Unit; one other of the same
metal, of the value of one tenth of a Unit; one other of copper, of the
value of the hundredth of a Unit.

That there shall be a coin of gold of the value of ten units, according
to the report before directed, and the judgment of the Committee
thereon.

That the alloy of the said coins of gold and silver shall be equal in
weight to one eleventh part of the fine metal.

That there be proper devices for these coins.

That measures be proposed for preventing their diminution, and also
their currency, and that of any others, when diminished.

That the several foreign coins be described and classed in the said
Ordinance, the fineness of each class stated, and its value by weight
estimated in Units and decimal parts of Units.

And that the said draught of an Ordinance be reported to Congress at
their next meeting, for their consideration and determination.

Supplementary Explanations.

The preceding notes having been submitted to the consideration of the
Financier, he favored me with his opinion and observations on them,
which render necessary the following supplementary explanations.

I observed in the preceding notes, that the true proportion of value
between gold and silver was a mercantile problem altogether, and that,
perhaps, fifteen for one, might be found an eligible proportion. The
Financier is so good as to inform me, that this would be higher than
the market would justify. Confident of his better information on this
subject, I recede from that idea.*

* In a Newspaper, which frequently gives good details in political
economy, I find, under the Hamburg head, that the present market
price of Gold and Silver is, in England, 15.5 for 1: in Russia, 15: in
Holland, 14.75: in Savoy, 14.96: in Fiance, 14.42: in Spain, 14.3: in
Germany, 14.155: the average of which is 14.615 or 14 1/2. I would still
incline to give a little more than the market price for gold, because of
its superior convenience in transportation.