Money Matters

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Original U.S. Constitution

Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 5

[Congress shall have Power ... ] To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, ...;

Art. I Sec. 10 Cl. 1

[No State shall ...] make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; ...

Note that there is no such prohibition against Congress, or any delegated power to make anything legal tender. Congress was originally understood to have no power to make anything legal tender outside of federal territories, under Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 17 and Art. IV Sec. 3 Cl. 2, but in 1868 a Supreme Court packed by Pres. Ulysses S. Grant, in the Legal Tender Cases, allowed Congress to make paper currency issued by the U.S. Treasury, backed by gold, legal tender on state territory, a precedent that remains controversial to this day, when courts allow paper currency not backed by anything to be considered "legal tender".

Seventh Amendment

The only money amount in the Constitution or its amendments is in the Seventh Amendment:

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

In 1789 the "dollar" was a coin, the Spanish taler, containing 371.25 grains of pure silver, or 416 grains of silver of standard (coin grade) purity. A troy ounce, the standard measurement unit for precious metals, is 480 grains, so a "dollar" contains 0.7734 troy ounce of pure silver, and 20 such coins would weigh 17.3333 troy ounces and contain 15.46875 troy ounces of pure silver. One can use the Oanda Currency Converter below to find out what the current value of that amount of bulk silver would be in federal reserve notes. For example, on June 15, 2000, it would be about $87.71 in federal reserve notes. However, keep in mind that the world trading price for gold or silver is the bulk, wholesale price, for ingots, in minimum quantities of 400 troy ounces, and the trading is generally only a tranfer of title and not a physical delivery of the ingots, for which an additional transport charge may be made. As single coins it would have about twice that bulk value, so the constitutional threshold under the Eighth Amendment would be closer to $176 in federal reserve notes. That would be the minimum "value in controversy" that would preserve the right to trial by jury in a civil case.

Documents

•  The Coinage Act of Apr 2, 1792
•  The Coinage Act of Mar 4, 1900
•    Dollar Defined — Dictionary and statutory definitions of money, 1856-1996.
•  Excerpt from 1923 Congressional Record — The Federal Reserve and several large banks deliberately contracted to extend credit to the agriculture industry for the purpose of eliminating many farmers.
•  The Gold Confiscation Of April 5, 1933 — Unconstitutional act of Congress and President Roosevelt.
•   Money as Debt Quotations — Revealing statements from public figures.
•  31 USC 5103, defining legal tender. However, it only constitutionally applies to non-state U.S. territory, such as federal enclaves created under Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 17 or incorporated territory under Art. IV Sec. 3 Cl. 2.

Court cases

•   Antebellum Money Cases, including some civil war legal tender cases. Compiled by Larry Becraft.

Commentary

•   Gold and Economic Freedom, by Alan Greenspan (1966) — Before he became Chairman of the Federal Reserve he had some strong opinions, which he has never repudiated.
•  A Pieces of Eight, by Edwin Vieira — Comprehensive treatise on money.
•   What Is A "Dollar"? An Historical Analysis Of The Fundamental Question In Monetary Policy, by Edwin Vieira.
•   Trashing the Constitution: How misconstruction of the monetary powers and disabilities subverted the Founding Fathers’ intent, speech of Edwin Vieira before the Rotary Club of New York, March 25th, 2003.
•   The Money Issue, memorandum of law by Larry Becraft.
•       A Caveat Against Injustice, or, An Inquiry into the Evils of a Fluctuating Medium of Exchange, Roger Sherman (1752) — By the author of the Tender Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
•   De Moneta, Nicholas Oresme, 1484. Translated from Latin by Charles Johnson — Classic treatise on money and coinage.

Control of Money

• Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR) — In case you thought we live in a free enterprise economy.
• Court Rules Federal Reserve is Privately Owned — Lewis v. United States, 680 F.2d 1239 (1982).

Tools

• OANDA Currency Converter — Allows you to convert units of any national currency or precious metal into units of any other, for any date back to 1990.

Advocates

•  Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) — Advocate and undertake litigation against illegal collusion to control the price and supply of gold and related financial securities..
•  People for Mathematically Perfected Economy — Argues that debt-based currency leads to economic collapse.
•  You Be The Judge and The Jury — Accusation that the present monetary system is fundamentally corrupt and unconstitutional.

Alternatives

The following links are provided free for public educational purposes, and do not represent endorsements of the companies or their products or services.

1. Energy Currency — Proposal to base legal tender on units of energy.
2. Digital Currency — Proposal to use digital certificates for currency.
   • Bitcoin — P2P Virtual Currency.
   • Loom — Digitally encrypted commodity exchange system, warehouse certificates that can be used as currency.
3. World Gold Council — The global advocate for gold.
4. Crowne Gold — Gold trading.
5. GoldMoney — Digital gold currency.
6. e-gold — Gold circulated electronically.
7. Gold Eagle — Documents and links on gold.
8. Netspend — Anonymous digital cash.
9. PayPal — Online clearinghouse for currency exchanges among members.
10. National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Code (NORFED) — Support the Liberty Dollar backed by gold or silver. Currently under unlawful attack by the federal government.

Also see Tax Matters