THB MONETARY POWERS AND DISABILITt'J!S OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION A Study in Constitutional Law Prepared for the United States Gold Commission 8 February 1982 EDWIN VIEIRA, JR. 12408 Greenhill Drive Silver Spring, Maryland 20904 Member of the Bars of the State-of-garyrand-and of the District of Colurnbra- [...]... another circular letter the existence of a certain "distrust * * * entertained by the mass of the people, either in the ability or inclination of the United States to redeem their bills", Congress argued that "the natural wealth, value and resources of the country" would 47/ suffice to pay the debt."Congress", the letter intoned, "have pledged the faith of their constituents for the redemption of [the. .. are the insurgents * * * feel at once their own poverty * * * and their own force, and they are determined to make use of the latter to remedy the former Their creed is, that the property the United States * * * ought to be the common property of all; and he that attempts opposition to this creed is the enemy of equality and justice, and ought to be swept from the face of the earth In a word, they... on the credit of the United States[ .] Article I,.S 8, cl 5 The Congress shai.l have Power7"** TTo coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures[.] Article I, § 8, cl 6 The Congress shall have Power-*-' TTo-Provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States[ .] Article I, S 9, cl 1 The Migration... likewise in the breast of the king * ** In order to fix the value, the weight and the fineness of the metal are to be taken into consideration together When a given weight of gold or silver is of a given " fineness, it is then of the true standard, and called sterling metal * * * And of this sterling metal all the coin of the kingdom must be made, by the statute 25 Edw III c 13 So that the king's... words, and 85/ bespeak a consistent purpose and policy.-1 The purpose and policy of the monetary powers and disabilities The pupose of the monetary powers and disabilities is "to preclude us from the embarrassme·nts of a perpetually fluctuat86/ ing and variable currency" '-.- by stopping "[t] he floods of depreciated paper-money, with which most of the States * * * 87/ were inundated".Thus these prOVisions... died in the hands of their possessors Thus were redeemed the solemn pledges of the national government! Thus was a paper currency, which was declared to be equal to gold and silver, suffered to perish in the hands of the persons compelled to take it; and the very enormity of the wrong made the ground of an abandonment of every attempt to redress it! 63/ 59/ 16 60/ 19 id at 266 2"69 Journals of the Continental... constant of weight, and permitted the purchasingpower of money and all monetary exchange-ratios to reach the lev~ls the market set Given the- unlimited monetary powers the States claimed as part of their "sovereignty", and the less-expansive but still broad'-authority that Congress exercised pursuant to the Articles of Confederation, such a monetary system was unlikely of attainment particularly in the. .. power in the Articles of Confederation "of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by [Congress'] 74/ own authority, or by that of the respective states" ".Still presuming that "the holders of bilis of credit * * will be entitled * * * to receive * * * the amount of said bills in Spanish milled dollars, or the value thereof in gold and silver", a committee of Congress recognized that the value of su~h... equally obvious and alarming They tend to the depravity of morals, decay of public virtue, a precarious supply for the war, debasement of the public faith, injustice to individuals, and the destruction of the honour, safety, and independence of ~he United States Loudly, therefore, are we called upon to provide a seasonable and effectual remedy ~/ And even in its circular letter of 1779, otherwise... beyo'i1d the perIOdslimrted for calling in and sinklngthe~, 13 Geo III., ch 57, § I -13- legislative powers to coin money, to emit paper currency, and to make such currency {and other things as tender in payment of debts w~ll) legal In the Articles of Confederation, the organic law of the United States from which the Constitution evolved, the States deleqated to Congress the authority to coin money and . Incorporations of the Bank of the United States in 1791 and 1816 . a. b. The constitutionality of the Bank of the United States as an. THB MONETARY POWERS AND DISABILITt'J!S OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION A Study in Constitutional Law Prepared for the United