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Page thumbnail for The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser
Letter to Editor June 7, 1792

The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

Portsmouth, Rockingham County, New Hampshire

What is this article about?

A correspondent proposes inscribing satirical devices on national debt certificates to symbolize the fraud and injury inflicted by the government on original holders, particularly Revolutionary War soldiers, widows, and families, while highlighting speculators' gains.

Merged-components note: Continuation across pages of the correspondent's proposal for symbolic devices on national debt certificates; relabeled from editorial to match the letter format.

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1 of 2

OCR Quality

95% Excellent

Full Text

A correspondent, who has always considered the persons to whom the certificates of our national debt were originally issued, as grossly defrauded and injured by our government, proposes that each certificate in the new dress given to it in the Secretary's office, should have the following DEVICES inscribed upon it, according to its denomination:—

1. The bloody arm of a soldier.

2. The wooden leg of a soldier.

3. A soldier's heart pierced with a bayonet.

4. The broken heart of a widow of a whig of 1776.

5. A continental colonel's widow with six children dining on a salted herring and two potatoes.

6. A continental major begging his bread with his family on his way to Kentucky.

7. A continental captain confined in goal for a debt of fifty shillings.

8. A Speculator driving his carriage over a soldier on a pair of crutches in the streets of Philadelphia.

9. A sloop sailing towards Charleston, belonging to Col. Duer and Co. to buy up the certificates of the southern states at 2/6d. in the pound.

10. A Speculator galloping thro' the remote countries of every state and cheating the farmers out of their certificates.

11. A ship sailing towards Great-Britain with four millions of specie, being the annual interest of the national debt paid to European brokers.

12. A coffee-house crowded with speculators (instead of millers and merchants) attending the sale of stock.

13. A coronet, a star and garter.

14. A sceptre, a crown and a throne.

15. A Ring to denote the irredeemability of the public debt, or that the evils produced by the certificates will have no end.

What sub-type of article is it?

Satirical Provocative Social Critique

What themes does it cover?

Economic Policy Morality Politics

What keywords are associated?

National Debt Certificates Speculators Revolutionary Soldiers Government Fraud Widows Continental Army

What entities or persons were involved?

A Correspondent

Letter to Editor Details

Author

A Correspondent

Main Argument

certificates of the national debt should be inscribed with satirical devices depicting the suffering of original holders like soldiers and widows from the revolutionary war, contrasted with speculators' and government's gains, to highlight the gross fraud by the government.

Notable Details

List Of 15 Symbolic Devices Ranging From Injured Soldiers To Speculators' Wealth And British Payments References To Col. Duer And Co. Mentions Philadelphia, Charleston, Kentucky, Great Britain

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