the tools of government

‘An interesting case is the early attempt to impose taxes on playing cards in Britain , which involved printing the Ace of Spades separately at the government printing office. The penalty for anyone using any Ace of Spades other than those printed by government was originally death (…), though the sentence was later reduced to transportation, and later still, in 1861, to penal servitude for life'
hood | cards | statecraft | the game