Page:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies, from the papers of Thomas Jefferson - Volume 1.djvu/149

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No attainder shall work corruption of blood in any case.

In all cases of forfeiture, the widow s dower shall be saved to her, during her title thereto ; after which it shall be disposed of as if no such saving had been.

The aid of Counsel,* and examination of their witnesses on oath, shall be allowed to defendants in criminal prosecutions.

Slaves guilty of any offence† punishable in others by labor in the public works, shall be transported to such parts in the West Indies, South America, or Africa, as the Governor shall direct, there to be continued in slavery.

[NOTE F.]

Notes, on the establishment of a Money Unit, and of a Coinage for the United States.

In fixing the Unit of Money, these circumstances are of prin- cipal importance.

I. That it be of convenient size to be applied as a measure to the common money transactions of life.

II. That its parts and multiples be in an easy proportion to each other, so as to facilitate the money arithmetic.

III. That the Unit and its parts, or divisions, be so nearly of the value of some of the known coins, as that they may be of easy adop tion for the people.

The Spanish Dollar seems to fulfil all these conditions.

I. Taking into our view all money transactions, great and small, I question if a common measure of more convenient size than the Dollar could be proposed. The value of 100, 1000, 10,000 dol lars is well estimated by the mind ; so is that of the tenth or the hundredth of a dollar. Few transactions are above or below these limits. The expediency of attending to the size of the Money Unit will be evident, to any one who will consider how inconve- nient it would be to a manufacturer or merchant, if, instead of the yard for measuring cloth, either the inch or the mile had been made the Unit of Measure.

II. The most easy ratio of multiplication and division, is that by ten. Every one knows the facility of Decimal Arithmetic. Every one remembers, that, when learning Money- Arithmetic, he used to be puzzled with adding the farthings, taking out the fours and


 * 1. Ann. c. 9.

† Manslaughter, counterfeiting, arson, asportation of vessels, robbery, bur glary, housebreaking, horsestealing, larceny.