"The American Revolution, like nearly all revolutions in history, was an uprising not against a king and his ministers, but against a system and a state of mind. Nor was the system the work of George III, Hillsborough, Townshend, or Lord North, for they were its products not its creators. It was the result of the Revolution of 1688, which gave power to the men of the landowning and monied classes of England. They, although they bore titles of nobility and constituted the county aristocracy, were of middle-class origin and under their rule were fashioned those rigid and sinister ideas of power and government which permeated the whole official world of king, ministries, parliament, council, departments, and boards, all having, to do with administration at home and abroad" (Andrews, Colonial Background of the American Revolution, p. 218).

"There is something so consummately ridiculous in the idea of a nation's getting money by paying interest to itself upon its own stock, that the mind of every rational man naturally rejects it. It is, really, something little short of madness to suppose, that a nation can increase its wealth; increase its means of paying others; that it can do this by paying interest to itself. When time is taken to reflect, no rational man will attempt to maintain a proposition so shockingly absurd" (William Cobbett, M.P., Paper Against Gold, p.83).

"Central to the success of the Dutch was the Amsterdam Wisselbank, which had been founded in 1609. It provided the motive power for the Dutch economy by lending to the City of Amsterdam, the State in the form of the Province of Holland and trade in the shape of the Dutch East India Company as well as being responsible for coinage and, of course, exchange. Much later, in 1683, it was empowered to lend to private customers. Payments over a certain amount had to pass through it and it therefore was convenient for the important finance houses to hold accounts with it. Thus not only was it in a position to oversee the Dutch financial scene, it was also able to act as a stabilising influence on it" (The Bank of England).

"III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any governor or commander in chief for the time being, in all or any of the said colonies or plantations, shall, from and after the said first day of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty four, give his assent to any act or order of assembly contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, every such governor or commander in chief shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand pounds, and shall be immediately dismissed from his government, and for ever after rendered incapable of any public office or place of trust." (Currency Act of 1764).

"Amongst those thought to have "provided for a retreat" in this way were members of the English Commonwealth Parliament and the Danish court, the Prince Palatine and the Republic of Venice. The Wisselbank was also used by the Spanish crown to pay subsidies to Sweden in the 1660's. To this extent the Wisselbank was not only a public bank for Amsterdam and its citizens but also a secure haven for other European governments and political interests. Its success continued well into the eighteenth century, even after Amsterdam's ascendancy was coming to an end, and it survived until 1820." (Edwin Green, Banking An Illustrated History, p.33).