Nichole+Freiboth

The social and economic effects of the global flow of silver were bad. From the mid-sixteenth century, silver had a bad effect. An additional document that would be useful would be a document written by an average person who was not a court official or scholar. This would be a good document because we could see how the widespread use of silver affected the working class.

Documents 1, 3, 5, and 7 were all from China. Document 1 is written by a county official who stated that a poor man’s silver bar would be enough, but a rich man’s thousand silver bars would never be enough. This is showing how silver made people greedy. Those who had a lot used it extravagantly and never seemed to have enough for them to be satisfied. In Doc 3, the author, a court official, states that the scarcity of the silver coin is the reason that grain is so cheap even though harvests are poor. This is also bed because the government doesn’t give the people what they need in order to invest in the things that they need, like food. Doc 5 was written by a writer from China. He is saying how dye shops only accept silver as payment now, instead of how it used to be, when they could pay in other ways. The writer probably feels some of this hardship himself. The wealthy have all the silver, so he cannot pay for everything that he used to because he does not have all the silver that is now being demanded because silver is popular. In Doc 7, the author, a Chinese court official, wants to repeal the ban on foreign trade. He sees that their goods can be sold for two to three times the amount that it is worth. This is also bad, because the merchants/government of China will begin to get greedy, and greed is never one with happiness.

Documents 2 and 6 are both from Spain. In Doc 2, the author, a Spanish scholar, talked about how bad Spain was getting. The high prices ruined Spain because silver was not a thing that everybody had. Doc 6 was written by a Spanish priest who stated how much silver and how much hard work it was getting the silver and flint ore out of the silver mines. The people mining it were so tired that even one with nothing to carry would have a hard time getting it out. Also he talks about the possibility of people steeling silver. As a priest, he would not want this to happen because he wants people to get to heaven and follow his faith. Documents 4 and 8 were both from other countries. Doc 4 is written by a British merchant who saw the Portuguese trade with the Chinese for silver. This is also bad because the Portuguese became sneaky to get silver, which is what China wanted, the new, popular thing. Doc 8 was written by an English scholar who wrote about people burying gold and silver. They also showed people being greedy because they want it to be all theirs.