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Peel's Bill
Peel's Bill, or the 1819 Act for the Resumption of Cash Payments (59 Geo. III, cap. 49), marked the return of the British currency to the gold standard, after the Bank Restriction Act 1797 saw paper money replacing convertibility to gold and silver under the financial pressures of the French Revolutionary Wars. Controversial in its passing, Peel's Bill generated debate and conflict over the decades that followed. Antecedents The debate over the return to the gold standard dated back at least to the Bullion Report of 1810, whose recommendations of a return to cash payments within two years were hotly opposed by, among others, Nicholas Vansittart on both theoretical and practical grounds. While the principle of a return to gold became broadly accepted, its implementation was repeatedly postponed, until in 1819 public outrage forced the establishment of a committee to review the matter, chaired by Sir Robert Peel. Initially proclaiming himself a neutral on the matter - "I voted with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold Standard
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the late 1920s to 1932 as well as from 1944 until 1971 when the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. Many states nonetheless hold substantial gold reserves. Historically, the silver standard and bimetallism have been more common than the gold standard. The shift to an international monetary system based on a gold standard reflected accident, network externalities, and path dependence. Great Britain accidentally adopted a ''de facto'' gold standard in 1717 when Sir Isaac Newton, then-master of the Royal Mint, set the exchange rate of silver to gold too low, thus causing silver coins to go out of circulation. As Great Britain became the world's leading financ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pittite
The Tories were a loosely organised political faction and later a political party, in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. They first emerged during the 1679 Exclusion Crisis, when they opposed Whig efforts to exclude James, Duke of York from the succession on the grounds of his Catholicism. Despite their fervent opposition to state-sponsored Catholicism, Tories opposed exclusion in the belief inheritance based on birth was the foundation of a stable society. After the succession of George I in 1714, the Tories were excluded from government for nearly 50 years and ceased to exist as an organised political entity in the early 1760s, although it was used as a term of self-description by some political writers. A few decades later, a new Tory party would rise to establish a hold on government between 1783 and 1830, with William Pitt the Younger followed by Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. The Whigs won control of Parl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Banking
The history of banking began with the first prototype banks, that is, the merchants of the world, who gave grain loans to farmers and traders who carried goods between cities. This was around 2000 BCE in Assyria, India and Sumeria. Later, in ancient Greece and during the Roman Empire, lenders based in temples gave loans, while accepting deposits and performing the change of money. Archaeology from this period in ancient China and India also shows evidence of money lending. Many scholars trace the historical roots of the modern banking system to medieval and Renaissance Italy, particularly the affluent cities of Florence, Venice and Genoa. The Bardi and Peruzzi Families dominated banking in 14th century Florence, establishing branches in many other parts of Europe. Hoggson, N. F. (1926) ''Banking Through the Ages'', New York, Dodd, Mead & Company. The most famous Italian bank was the Medici Bank, established by Giovanni Medici in 1397.Goldthwaite, R. A. ''Banks, Places and Entr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal in a pure form. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions. Gold often occurs in free elemental ( native state), as nuggets or grains, in rocks, veins, and alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as electrum), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium, and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides). Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), forming a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Gold is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold Standard
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the late 1920s to 1932 as well as from 1944 until 1971 when the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. Many states nonetheless hold substantial gold reserves. Historically, the silver standard and bimetallism have been more common than the gold standard. The shift to an international monetary system based on a gold standard reflected accident, network externalities, and path dependence. Great Britain accidentally adopted a ''de facto'' gold standard in 1717 when Sir Isaac Newton, then-master of the Royal Mint, set the exchange rate of silver to gold too low, thus causing silver coins to go out of circulation. As Great Britain became the world's leading financ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unintended Consequences
In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was popularised in the twentieth century by American sociologist Robert K. Merton and expanded by economist Thomas Sowell and psychologist Stuart Vyse.Robert K. Merton, Versatile Sociologist and Father of the Focus Group, Dies at 92 Michael T. Kaufman, '''' Unintended consequences can be grouped into three types: * ''Unexpected benefit'': ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Scott, 1st Earl Of Eldon
John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, (4 June 1751 – 13 January 1838) was a British barrister and politician. He served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain between 1801 and 1806 and again between 1807 and 1827. Background and education Eldon was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. His grandfather, William Scott of Sandgate, a street adjacent to the Newcastle quayside, was clerk to a fitter, a sort of water-carrier and broker of coals. His father, whose name also was William, began life as an apprentice to a fitter, in which service he obtained the freedom of Newcastle, becoming a member of the guild of Hostmen (coal-fitters); later in life he became a principal in the business, and attained a respectable position as a merchant in Newcastle, accumulating property worth nearly £20,000. Eldon was educated at Newcastle upon Tyne Royal Grammar School. He was not remarkable at school for application to his studies, though his wonderful memory enabled him to make good progress in them; h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Spencer, Viscount Althorp
John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer, (30 May 1782 – 1 October 1845), styled Viscount Althorp from 1783 to 1834, was a British statesman. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne from 1830 to 1834. Due to his reputation for integrity, he was nicknamed "Honest Jack". Early years His father George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer had served in the ministries of Pitt the Younger, Charles James Fox and Lord Grenville, and was First Lord of the Admiralty (1794–1801). George Spencer was married to the eldest daughter of Lord Lucan. Their eldest son, John Charles, was born at Spencer House, London, on 30 May 1782. In 1800, after Harrow, he took up his residence at Trinity College, Cambridge, and for some time applied himself energetically to mathematical studies; but he spent most of his time in hunting and racing. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Northamptonshire on 5 June 1803. In 1804, he entered parliament as a member for Okehampton in Dev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radicals (UK)
The Radicals were a loose parliamentary political grouping in Great Britain and Ireland in the early to mid-19th century who drew on earlier ideas of radicalism and helped to transform the Whigs into the Liberal Party. History Early Radicals The Radical movement arose in the late 18th century to support parliamentary reform, with additional aims including lower taxes and the abolition of sinecures. John Wilkes's reformist efforts in the 1760s as editor of ''The North Briton'' and MP were seen as radical at the time, but support dropped away after the Massacre of St George's Fields in 1768. Working class and middle class "Popular Radicals" agitated to demand the right to vote and assert other rights including freedom of the press and relief from economic distress, while " Philosophic Radicals" strongly supported parliamentary reform, but were generally hostile to the arguments and tactics of the Popular Radicals. However, the term "Radical" itself, as opposed to "reformer" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Reform Act
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. It abolished tiny districts, gave representation to cities, gave the vote to small landowners, tenant farmers, shopkeepers, householders who paid a yearly rental of £10 or more, and some lodgers. Only qualifying men were able to vote; the Act introduced the first explicit statutory bar to women voting by defining a voter as a male person. It was designed to correct abuses – to "take effectual Measures for correcting divers Abuses that have long prevailed in the Choice of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament". Before the reform, most members nominally represented boroughs. The number of electors in a borough varied widely, from a dozen or so up to 12,000. Frequently the selection of Memb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham Political Union
The Birmingham Political Union (General Political Union) was a grass roots pressure group in Great Britain during the 1830s. It was founded by Thomas Attwood, a banker interested in monetary reform. Its platform called for extending and redistributing suffrage rights to the working class, of the kind set out in the Reform Bill of March 1831 which when passed became the 1832 Reform Act. It included both middle-class and working-class members. Early years The Union was founded at the end of 1829; its first public meeting was on 25 January 1830 and was attended by a large number of people, variously estimated as anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 people. Its stated aim was to campaign for reform of the House of Commons, politically combining "the efforts of the two "industrious classes" of the nation, that is, the middle and lower… who had been deceived into attacking and blaming each other for their sufferings". Other manufacturing towns in Britain began to follow Birmingham's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bank Restriction Act 1797
The Bank Restriction Act 1797 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (37 Geo. III. c. 45) which removed the requirement for the Bank of England to convert banknotes into gold. The period lasted until 1821, when convertibility was restored. The period between these two dates is known as the Restriction period. Reasons for restricting An increasing number of people were trading their banknotes for gold. Due to the overprinting of banknotes, the Bank of England was losing its supply of gold, and due to the gold standard, the value of each banknote was diminishing. The timing of the act, which had been under consideration for a few months owing to runs on banks in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, and Durham that had in turn requested monetary support from the Bank of England, was the invasion of Britain on 22–24 February 1797 by French forces in Fishguard. When news of this event, now known as the Battle of Fishguard, became known in London, a much greater run on the Bank of E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
