Mississippi Scheme
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a scheme projected by John Law in Paris in 1717 for the colonization and development of the Mississippi valley, combined with a banking scheme and a scheme for the management of the National debt, the whole supported by the French government. Shares originally issued at 500 livres (say $100) were sold at 10, 20, 30, and even 40 times their value. The state took advantage of the popular frenzy to issue increased quantities of paper money, which was readily accepted and invested in shares of Law's company. This went on till the value of the paper money became depreciated in value and the shares fell in price. Law, the originator of the bankrupt company, fled from France in 1720; the State acknowledged itself debtor to the shareholders to the extent of $340,000,000 (See LAW, JOHN). MISSISSIPPI, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational, non-sectarian institution in University, Miss.; founded in 1844; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 34; students, 607; volumes in the library, 31,000; productive funds, $700,000; chancellor, Joseph Neely Powers, LL. D. MISSOLONGHI (-long'ge) (Mesolongion), a seaport town of Greece, on the N. shore of the Gulf of Patras. In 1821- 1822, the Turks invested it for 3 months, and again in 1825-1826, when the garrison, reduced from 5,000 to 3,000, cut their way out, carrying with them a large number of women and children. There is a statue (1835) over the grave of Bozzaris, and another (1881) of Lord Byron, on the spot where his heart is interred. Pop. about 11,000.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The narrative Collier's gave in 1921 — Law's 1717 company, the paper-money frenzy, the collapse and his flight in 1720 — is still the narrative told today, and the dates hold. What has shifted is the verdict on Law himself: where older accounts treated him as little more than a projector who ruined France, economists since the mid-20th century have taken his scheme seriously as an early experiment in paper currency and in swapping government debt for company shares, a manoeuvre with modern echoes. One concrete legacy the entry passes over: New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Law's Company of the West and named for the regent, so the colonisation half of the scheme left a city behind even after the shares became worthless.
Written for this edition, 2026.