The Many Monies of King Cotton: Domestic and Foreign Currencies in New Orleans, 1856–1860
Manuel A. Bautista–González ()
Additional contact information
Manuel A. Bautista–González: Columbia University in the City of New York
Chapter 5 in The Book of Payments, 2016, pp 43-54 from Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract:
Abstract This case study illustrates how a diverse array of domestic and foreign currencies satisfied the money demands of the many interregional and international trade circuits articulated around New Orleans (the most important Southern port of trade) right before the American Civil War. It also explores how the plurality of currencies provided liquidity when it was the most needed, especially during and after the panic of 1857, through adjustments of currency exchange rates. Discounts and premiums of state banknotes provide information about the patterns of spatial division of labor and the imbalanced regional specialization of the American economy right before the Civil War. The nominal exchange rates of foreign currencies in New Orleans such as the British sterling pound, the French franc, the Austrian thaler, the Mexican peso, the Spanish and the Spanish American “patriot” doubloons inform our understanding of the integration of the American slaveholding, staple-exporting South to the world economy of the long nineteenth century.
Keywords: Exchange Rate; Money Supply; Foreign Currency; Money Demand; Nominal Exchange Rate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-60231-2_5
Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137602312
DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-60231-2_5
Access Statistics for this chapter
More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().