”Macon Convention, 1839.

There was a convention of representatives of the Mississippi banks at Vicksburg in November, 1838, presided over by H. G. Runnels, and a convention of the banks of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Alabama was called for December, by the Union bank, to consider the resumption of specie payments. The result was an address to the cotton planters, merchants and bankers of the Southern States, signed by prominent bankers of the various States, headed by Nathaniel A. Ware, of Mississippi, proposing a scheme for basing money upon cotton, through a banking and commercial alliance with the English cotton manufacturers and the Bank of England. Under this scheme the Southern banks would make advances on cotton, and through their British correspondents relieve the planter of all further care regarding the marketing of their crops. A convention was called at Macon, Ga., in October, 1839, to further consider this remarkable proposition. On production of bills of lading the banks would issue post notes, which would be the currency of the country.  The scheme was presented as a method of protecting the cotton crop from sacrifice to the profit of speculators and brokers. This was at a time when the so-called United States bank, of Pennsylvania, supplied the good paper money in Mississippi, and South Carolina and New York were preparing banks for a similar purpose. It was the policy of S. S. Prentiss and the Whigs to put the issue of paper money under the control of the national government.”

Reference Data:

Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, Vol. 2, by Dunbar Rowland, 1907, pages 158-9