Originally Posted by
allodial
However, even if only gold coins were in circulation in any given state or kingdom or forum, the sovereign or ruler of such is who says and thusly it is that authority that makes it money.
According to Webster's Dictionary, "sovereign" is defined as: 1. chief or highest; supreme. 2. Supreme in power, superior in position to all others. 3. Independent of, and unlimited by, any other, possessing or entitled to, original and independent authority or jurisdiction.
Probably no aspect of the American economy has strayed further from the Constitution than the monetary system. W. Cleon Skousen.
Unless you’re calling congress the sovereign or ruler of such it was congress and the Board of Treasury most probably by us the people who in the Constitution stated what money is . This is a constitutional issue. The Constitution is an extraordinary document.
When your great X’s 3 grandparents fought the Revolutionary War, two things almost led to the defeat of the struggle for American independence. One the inadequate system of constitutional government, and the other was unsound money. Congress issued about $240 million in “Continentals” referring to money of the Continental Congress and it was understood that the money would be redeemed in gold or silver by the states after the war.
On down the line……………….
The American market accepted the Spanish dollar as its basic unit of value minted in Mexico and called a “piece of eight,” or a peso abbreviated into an S and a P with one written over the other which was further abbreviated to a “$” sign.
In 1785, two years before the Constitution was written, the Congress accepted the Spanish dollar as the official unit of value for the United States and determined that all foreign coin would be evaluated in terms of the Spanish dollar.
In 1786, the year before the Constitution was adopted; the Board of Treasury fixed the silver weight of the adopted dollar at 375 and 64/100s grains of fine silver.
The value of gold coins or any other coins was to be calculated in terms of the silver dollar of this weight and fineness.
Those three things had been established before the Constitution was adopted:
1. That the official money of the United States would be precious metals–silver and gold.
2. That the basic unit of value would be called a “dollar” and consist of 375 and 64/100s grains of fine silver.
3. All other coins, both foreign and domestic, would be evaluated in terms of this official silver dollar.
Here is my favorite line from here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...ency#Banknotes
The U.S. Constitution provides that Congress shall have the power to "borrow money on the credit of the United States".[44] Congress has exercised that power by authorizing Federal Reserve Banks to issue Federal Reserve Notes.
[to me congress is doing the borrowing on the credit of the united states by using frn’s, to run their Act of 1871 for the Title 28 3002 (15) (A) (B) (C) corporation.] McDonalds money.
Those notes are "obligations of the United States" and "shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand at the Treasury Department of the United States, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, or at any Federal Reserve bank."[45] Federal Reserve Notes are designated by law as "legal tender" for the payment of debts.[46] Congress has also authorized the issuance of more than 10 other types of banknotes, including the United States Note[47] and the Federal Reserve Bank Note. The Federal Reserve Note is the only type that remains in circulation since the 1970s.
This statement imho says the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Note is still in circulation today. I don’t care how much the congress is allowed to print each year or decade or in a lifetime it’s still here.
*** All of this was already part of the law of the land when the Constitution was adopted. ***
Therefore, the Founders wrote the following provisions in the Constitution concerning money based on the above statutes which had previously been adopted as the official monetary system.
They wrote:
Congress shall have the power “to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.” (Article I, section 8, clause 5.)
Congress shall have the power to punish the counterfeiting of money. (Article I, section 8, clause 6.)
No tax on imported persons (bonded servants) shall exceed ten dollars.
Note the reference to “dollars” in this provision.(Article I, section 9, clause 1.)
No state shall coin money, emit bills of credit, or make anything but gold and silver tender in payment of debts. (Article 1, Section 10, clause 1.)
In civil cases for more than twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved. (Seventh Amendment.)
In 1792, the Coinage Act was passed. It invoked the death penalty for anyone debasing the money. It provided for a United States mint where silver dollars were coined along with gold coins beginning in 1794.
900,000,000 silver dollars were coined from that time until 1935 when the treasury stopped minting them. Silver dollars contained 46 grains of standard silver same as the Spanish dollar, which had now been determined to be 371.25 grains of fine silver. Half dollars, quarters, and dimes and “half dimes” contained a proportionate amount of silver and Pennies and half pennies were made of copper.
Gold eagles were worth ten silver dollars, with a ratio between gold and silver fixed by statute. The fixing of this ratio by statute turned out to be a mistake.
Each metal should have been allowed to follow its independent market value. Half eagles (worth $5) and quarter eagles (worth $2.50) were also minted.
Free minting privileges were granted to all citizens. They could take either gold or silver to the mint and have it minted into coins. This practice lasted until 1873.
The ratio between gold and silver which was fixed by statute at 15 to 1 was soon out of phase in favor of gold as a result much of the American gold stocks began to be purchased by Europe.
In 1834, the ratio was changed to 16 to 1which favored silver, and from then until the Civil War the nation was, for all practical purposes, on a gold standard.
Europe began buying silver, with the gold it had previously accumulated. This soon brought gold stocks back to the United States.
Sidebar. Funny look to the right in the box @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_currency you have Official user(s) and unOfficial user(s), lol.
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