250 and Counting

Tag: Kentucky History

  • George M. Bibb–October 30, 1776

    Cover art for October 30, 1776: portrait of Hon George M. Bibb, 1850. via Library of Congress.

    What can I tell you about George Bibb that Mike hasn’t already shared with you?

    (Also: wait—Mike has a research staff? I don’ t have a research staff and this show was my idea! I think he’s getting his students to do his homework for him.)

    (For the record, that’s a joke. Mike and I each do our own research on these shows.)

    George Bibb was a generally wealthy guy, but in 1837 there was a financial crisis that led to several years of economic depression. It was a lot of different things coming together: land speculation in the West, cotton prices crashing, restrictive rules regarding lending money to Great Britain—a holdover from the War of 1812—and a few other things both related and not to one another, plus the fact that the US didn’t have a central bank at the time to calm things down. Today it’s referred to as the Panic of 1837, because of the resulting bank run that took place on May 10 of that year.

    This led to some serious financial difficulties for Bibb, and one can only imagine that this is why he agreed to be the Secretary of the Treasury in 1844, as things managed to begin righting themselves. Unfortunately, President John Tyler was not receptive to Bibb’s recommendation of a “sinking fund,” which would help to pay down government debt through any surplus revenue. To use a totally-made-up example, if the government expected to receive a million dollars in revenue and instead got $1.1 million, the extra hundred thousand would go to the fund. Similarly, if a department expected to spend a million dollars in a given year but only spent $900,000, that money could also go to the fund. This wasn’t his idea, though: the nation had a sinking fund from 1739 to 1835 but Bibb couldn’t get it revived.

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  • Francis Johnson–June 19, 1776

    Cover art for June 19, 1776: The Old State House in Kentucky. We have to confess, Francis Johnson did not use this building; the one he occupied burned down a few years earlier. He was likely part of the vote to get this one built, though.

    Let’s start with the truth: Francis Johnson was not in office when the building in today’s cover art opened. This is the Old State Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky, which opened in 1827, just after he left the US Congress.

    But while this is the Old State Capitol, there are two buildings even older which were used; unfortunately both of them burned down, hence this stone edifice, one presumes.

    You kind of have to feel badly in the long run when stuff like this happens. It feels a little bit like the universe is trying its best to wipe this guy from history. Even his specific birthplace is unknown, and the graveyard where he was interred is a public playground. (I’m going to presume it’s been paved over, yes?) But the fact is, once we’re gone we begin to accumulate anonymity unless something extraordinary happens to you or by you.

    Not meaning to be a downer; it’s just what they call a shower thought.

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