This provision in the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the Right to produce a national coin, set the weight, fineness, and value. Also, Congress could specify the value of a foreign coin in terms of the national coin of the United States.

It is clear from this provision that the State's could not create their own coin nor could they make anything but the gold and silver coins issued by Congress as legal tender for the payments of debt. This is a Constitutionally mandated Gold Standard.

It is important to note that there are two different kinds of paper currency which are not "money" but circulate as such: the first is debt money, which can be redeemed in silver or gold on demand, and the other is fiat (paper) money, which is designated as legal tender but cannot be redeemed for anything. Currently, our "Currency" is fiat money, something so abhorrent to our Founding Father's that they didn't even discuss it as an option.  An interesting original draft by the Founders would of allowed for "bills of credit", or paper money but that was struck out. It seems that during the Revolutionary War, when paper money had been issued, a promise to back the notes for gold or silver was a "no confidence" disaster, causing counterfeiting by the British and other forms of fraud. The end result were notes of no value, plummeting to less than a penny per dollar. This is why the Founding Fathers decided to mint only gold and silver coins as "money."

No further paper money was issued by the U. S. Government for over eighty years.  The Founders did allow, however, private banks to act as depositories for the United States and to collect taxes. People were issued redeemable bank notes which circulated as currency.  Unfortunately, Alexander Hamilton realized his error in promoting this type of banking too late, and by the end of the Civil War there were thousands of banks issuing thousands of different kinds of bank notes. There was also a tremendous amount of counterfeiting before the system began to falter. In 1878, Congress began to redeem "greenbacks" into gold which put the United States back on the gold standard until 1933.

 
I would recommend reading; "The Making of America" which you can get on the Amazon link below. This book by W. Cleon Skousen, gives an excellent education on money and the Constitution.

 
http://www.JaredStory.com/finances.html
Healthy Finances
http://www.JaredStory.com/about_taxes.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/biblical_view_gold_and_silver.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/buy_gold_and_silver.htm
http://www.JaredStory.com/buy_gold_and_silver.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/finances.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/finances_quiz.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/founding_father.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/gov_and_money.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/history_gold_and_silver.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/homebusiness.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/ideal_business.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/SmartMoney.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/the_world.html

http://www.JaredStory.com/preparedness.html
Preparedness 
http://www.JaredStory.com/farm_hand.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/firstaid_kit.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/foodbox_list.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/Four_Levels_of_Preparation.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/herbalremedieskit.html
http://www.JaredStory.com/preparedness.html

"'Now, I, the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness; they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness.  'These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them,' (D&C 68:31-32). We see evidence of many parents who overindulge their children without adding sufficient training about the value of work."     L. Tom Perry>>

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