Nathan Tankus

Nathan Tankus is a lapsed student, now writer and researcher born and living in New York City. He has been a visiting researcher at the Fields Institute and a research assistant at the University of Ottawa. He has also written for the Review of Keynesian Economics, Truthout and the financial blog Naked Capitalism.

1776 Lottery ticket issued by Continental Congress to finance American Revolutionary War.

Treasury Notes

Jackpot: For Colonial Slaves, Playing the Lottery Was a Chance at Freedom

Complaints that the lottery is a regressive tax on the poor have been around since the beginning of the lottery in America.

"The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor", lithograph depicting the 1773 Boston Tea Party

Treasury Notes

Taxation Without Money

The Stamp Act of 1765, which inspired the “taxation without representation” cry, imposed taxes that outraged specific groups of people.

The English lion dismember'd or the voice of the public for an enquiry into the public expenditure.

Treasury Notes

Paper Money Rebellion

The Currency Act of 1764 returned the restrictions of 1751: banning colonists from printing their own legal tender bills.

Benjamin Franklin at work on a printing press.

Treasury Notes

Public Banks: An American Tradition

When it comes to finance and banking, early Americans like Benjamin Franklin make Bernie Sanders look conservative.

Indenture certificate for James Rymer Junior, binding him as an apprentice to the surgeon-apothecaries Caleb Woodyer and William Newland of Guildford, signed by all parties.

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Indentured Servants and The Domestic Economy

Many 18th-century households included not only relatives and slaves, but also indentured servants, people sold into bondage for a specified length of time.

Treasury Notes

A Nation Built on Debt

What is debt and where did it come from?

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Introducing “Treasury Notes”

Treasury Notes, a new JSTOR Daily column, will discuss money in its historical context.

Nathan Tankus

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