A $5 dollar silver certificate, printed by and issued directly from the U.S. Treasury. Authorized under article 1 section 8 clause 5.
This is nothing more than a coupon that was redeemable in 5 silver dollars prior to 1968. Now it is redeemable for 5 “golden” dollars, but its collector value is probably more than that.
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General
May 27, 2017 2:40 pm
End the Fed
IndenturedServant
May 27, 2017 3:53 pm
#4 & #5 I picked up a couple of these 1783 Spanish Dollars (also known as Reales or Pieces of Eight) from the El Cazador wreck as a gift for my father after reading about their impact on the history of USA.
Research the implications of the El Cazador shipwreck sometime. At the time of the wreck the land known to day as the Louisiana Purchase was owned by Spain. Spain had no particular interest in it except as a buffer to protect their gold and silver mining operations in the west which extended as far north as Colorado.
Spain controlled the port of New Orleans and by default the Mississippi River. Early ‘Muricans depended on Ol Miss so much for their livelihood that some in KY and TN considered succeeding to become Spaniards as a result of river blockades and closing access to the Port of New Orleans.
Napoleon wanted the territory as he had eyes toward expanding the French Empire. Spain and France reached a deal to give the territory to France in exchange for a principality that didn’t exist and Spain got robbed in the deal. France got hosed when Napoleon’s elite military forces sent to occupy the territory stopped over in Haiti and were slaughtered in the only successful slave revolt in western history…twice! On top of that he was going broke fighting wars in Europe.
‘Murican spies were aware of all this and President Thomas Jefferson sent future President James Monroe to quietly negotiate an (illegal) deal to purchase this territory. The deal was illegal because the President didn’t have Congressional approval to spend that money but when has the ‘Murican govt ever been subject to her own laws?
The Spanish governor of New Orleans and his people had not been paid in quite sometime so after years of this the Spanish King finally ordered a shipload of Silver Dollars be delivered from Vera Cruz, Mejico. The ship sailed in January 1784 with 450,000 Silver Reales onboard and never arrived, disappearing without a trace. Management of the Louisiana Territory was then deemed not worth the cost.
Interestingly, the journals of the Spanish Governor in New Orleans indicate that the Mississippi river had froze over that winter (and the next) to a depth of three feet and had begun to break up shortly before El Cazador was due to arrive. Modern researchers believe that it may have been icebergs in the Gulf of Mejico that sent El Cazador to the bottom. Coincidentally, those were the only two times we know of that the Mississippi River froze in Louisiana since Colonial times.
It’s possible that if El Cazador had arrived, or, if Napoleon’s troops had made it to New Orleans the modern western border of the USA would still be the Mississippi River.
El Cazador was discovered in 1993 by a fishing trawler name MISTAKE, in 300 feet of water 50 miles south of Louisiana. That shipwreck, in effect, doubled the size of the USA.
[img
[/img]
A $5 dollar silver certificate, printed by and issued directly from the U.S. Treasury. Authorized under article 1 section 8 clause 5.
This is nothing more than a coupon that was redeemable in 5 silver dollars prior to 1968. Now it is redeemable for 5 “golden” dollars, but its collector value is probably more than that.
[img
[/img]
End the Fed
#4 & #5 I picked up a couple of these 1783 Spanish Dollars (also known as Reales or Pieces of Eight) from the El Cazador wreck as a gift for my father after reading about their impact on the history of USA.
Research the implications of the El Cazador shipwreck sometime. At the time of the wreck the land known to day as the Louisiana Purchase was owned by Spain. Spain had no particular interest in it except as a buffer to protect their gold and silver mining operations in the west which extended as far north as Colorado.
Spain controlled the port of New Orleans and by default the Mississippi River. Early ‘Muricans depended on Ol Miss so much for their livelihood that some in KY and TN considered succeeding to become Spaniards as a result of river blockades and closing access to the Port of New Orleans.
Napoleon wanted the territory as he had eyes toward expanding the French Empire. Spain and France reached a deal to give the territory to France in exchange for a principality that didn’t exist and Spain got robbed in the deal. France got hosed when Napoleon’s elite military forces sent to occupy the territory stopped over in Haiti and were slaughtered in the only successful slave revolt in western history…twice! On top of that he was going broke fighting wars in Europe.
‘Murican spies were aware of all this and President Thomas Jefferson sent future President James Monroe to quietly negotiate an (illegal) deal to purchase this territory. The deal was illegal because the President didn’t have Congressional approval to spend that money but when has the ‘Murican govt ever been subject to her own laws?
The Spanish governor of New Orleans and his people had not been paid in quite sometime so after years of this the Spanish King finally ordered a shipload of Silver Dollars be delivered from Vera Cruz, Mejico. The ship sailed in January 1784 with 450,000 Silver Reales onboard and never arrived, disappearing without a trace. Management of the Louisiana Territory was then deemed not worth the cost.
Interestingly, the journals of the Spanish Governor in New Orleans indicate that the Mississippi river had froze over that winter (and the next) to a depth of three feet and had begun to break up shortly before El Cazador was due to arrive. Modern researchers believe that it may have been icebergs in the Gulf of Mejico that sent El Cazador to the bottom. Coincidentally, those were the only two times we know of that the Mississippi River froze in Louisiana since Colonial times.
It’s possible that if El Cazador had arrived, or, if Napoleon’s troops had made it to New Orleans the modern western border of the USA would still be the Mississippi River.
El Cazador was discovered in 1993 by a fishing trawler name MISTAKE, in 300 feet of water 50 miles south of Louisiana. That shipwreck, in effect, doubled the size of the USA.
Yes, thanks for that. Had no idea.
good history