72 
Indiana University 
A study of the various attempted relief measures, as seen 
thus far in the bank legislation and replevin laws, almost con- 
vinces one that as soon as the time-serving legislatures passed 
an act that might afford some relief, they soon afterward did 
something that counteracted it. In December, 1820, the re- 
plevin law referred to above was passed, by which the debtor 
was allowed two years in which to redeem a debt due and for 
which execution had been ordered, unless the creditor should 
indorse on the execution his willingness to take notes of the 
then suspended Bank of Kentucky, or those of the newly 
created Bank of the Commonwealth in payment of his obliga- 
tions; if this were agreed to, the stay for payment was for 
only three months. Owing to the loss of the capitol building 
in November, 1824, by fire, and the destruction of the original 
records in the matter, it is not certainly known who was the 
author of this relief law, but it is believed to have been Judge 
George Bibb, one of the state’s ablest lawyers. Altho the act 
might be considered legal, it cast further suspicion on all the 
paper money of the state, infuriated creditors, and, instead 
of helping, made matters worse. In addition to this, in De- 
cember, 1821, an act was passed which prohibited the sale 
of property on an order from the court for less than three- 
fourths of its appraised value by a jury of neighbors, unless 
the plaintiff would consent to receive notes of the Bank of the 
Commonwealth or the Bank of Kentucky as payment in dis- 
charge of the execution; if these bank notes were accepted 
as payment, the property could be sold without a formal ap- 
praisement.^® While this act deferred payment for a given 
debtor, it will be seen at once that it nevertheless ultimately 
put the property under execution at the mercy of the few men 
in each community who had saved some money to invest when 
good opportunities should come. 
This last replevin law marks the supreme effort of the Ken- 
tucky legislature in trying to aid the debtor classes.®^ That 
it may be clear what the creditor who had lent good money 
would get in return if he took Commonwealth Bank notes as 
payment of his obligation, or submitted to a long vexatious 
delay without knowing then what he would get, it may be 
stated that Commonwealth Bank notes, worth only 70 cents 
on the dollar in specie from the very beginning, were worth 
Sumner, Andrew Jackson, 161. 
Wilson, op. cit., 47. 
