powerful, their faith in right increases, and their
esteem increases with their faith, until right becomes of more value
than possession.

Exchange, whether by barter or sale, is the result of differences of
estimate or value. By barter, the articles exchanged are themselves the
mediums; if, therefore, a given article be generally accepted to that
use, it becomes a common medium; and if it be divided by government into
well-defined quantities, suited and intended for that use, it becomes
money. Money, therefore, in its original form, is a common medium of
barter, that is accepted to that use by authority of law,--a medium
which, considered distinctly from that authority, is simply an article
of merchandise possessing qualities that make it preferable as a means
of barter, and which, for convenience of use, bears the stamp of the
government-inspector, defining the exact quantity contained in each
piece, but which, inasmuch as it is authorized, and partakes of the
nature of law, has ideal qualities that make it the means of sale: these
are, right of use, nomination, and numeration. The ideal qualities of
money serve to establish price, to create money of account, to make
credits possible, and ultimately to produce credit-mediums of exchange,
or bills, which, in a given form, though mere declarations of right to
the wealth they are said to represent, become, in the hands of a
civilized people, a species of currency that, with all its defects, has
proved itself to be the most effectual means both of commerce and of
government.

Wealth is that which may be used. Value is that by means of which wealth
may be exchanged. A currency, therefore, should consist of
representatives of value,--of representatives, because value, being
ideal, is known only by that means,--of value, because it is only by
differences of estimate or value that exchanges are possible. But, as
these representatives are wholly nominal, and may, therefore, be issued
in any quantity, and as their increase or decrease affects the value of
credits, their issue requires regulation. The quantity of the currency
may be well regulated by finding the rate per head of population during
a favorable state of trade, and by adhering to that invariably.

That the people of the United States have reached the degree of science
and civilization proper to the creation of such a currency is not yet
evident; but there is reason to believe that they will take the lead in
this