Encounters
''in specie'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜encounter｜ENC｜20260904134559-15-•
In this partisan speech, Lincoln did not forthrightly address all the criticisms of the bank. When the legislature incorporated the Bank of Illinois, it anticipated that its stock would be bought primarily by in-state investors. Instead, most shares were purchased by financiers in the East who deviously used the names of Illinois farmers as “owners” of the stock. Linder justly accused the bank commissioners of violating the law. This Lincoln dismissed as a quarrel among selfish capitalists, which was of no concern to the people. In fact, the law had been undermined. Lincoln was also disingenuous in alleging that the bank had met its legal requirement to redeem its notes in specie. This provision of the law was virtually nullified through clever arrangements by which the nine branches of the Bank of Illinois printed notes redeemable only at the issuing branch. To ensure that few such requests for redemption were made, the branches brought their notes into circulation at remote sites.
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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