Shortly before the American Civil War, an Irish nationalist militia was formed in the United States. Founded by Irish immigrants John O’Mahony and Michael Doheny, it was known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Situated as an arm of the Ireland-based Irish Republican Brotherhood, it was an organization whose goal was the re-establishment (more…)
Archive | Politics & Abolition
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Abolition – A Numismatic Perspective
History clearly records that the 1860 Presidential Race was a pivotal moment for the future of the United States. The movement for the abolition of slavery was not a quick phenomena, but rather one which took decades to rise to the top of the nation’s consciousness. Decades earlier the movement gained traction in the U.K. […]
John Brown – 19th Century Abolitionist
Born 1800 into a family with deeply religious convictions, John Brown was raised by a father who was ardently opposed to the institution of slavery. Puritans by faith, his family moved from his birthplace in Connecticut to northern Ohio when he was just five (more…)
The Barbary Coast Pirates & Not One Cent for Slavery
Being relatively inexpensive to produce, 19th-Century American tokens were a common and popular way to express political opinion and ideologies. Given their diminutive size and ease of dissemination, tokens were perfect messengers (more…)
VOTE THE LAND / FREE Token
Historically, numismatic researchers such as Rulau, Brunk, and others have attributed the VOTE THE LAND / FREE token to the Free Soil Party, which was a political movement that believed in the precondition that all new states admitted (more…)
New York’s 1855 Prohibitory Law & Temperance Token
During the middle part of the 19th century Anti-Liquor sentiments were quite predominant in the United States. Known as the ‘Temperance Movement’, it was believed that many of the ills of society [at the time] could be directly attributable to the consumption of alcohol. More fundamentally, it was believed that in order for man to […]
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