A Failed Nation - Rogue Island

In September 1786, a Newport butcher named John Weeden refused to take paper money for a joint of meat, and demanded silver. Under Rhode Island law, that was a crime — punishable by a fine, the loss of his vote, and a trial with no jury and no appeal. This is the story of what happened next: the farmers who took a state government by lawful election and used it to save their farms, the merchants who shut their doors rather than obey, and the courtroom in the Old Colony House where a Continent...