The daily union., 1846-06-26

This prohibition give pleasure 10 every citizen in
proportion to his love Of justice and knowledge Of the true
springs OF public prosperity The less which Amsncs
has sustained since the peace from the peslent effects Of
paper money on the necessary confidence man ana
on the industry and morals OF the peoples and on the char
4etsr oi republican government eonstltus an enormous
debt against the states chaseable with this unsdysed
measure, which must long remain uhstishedj rather
an accumu ation Of guilt which be sIpatsd no othrr
wise than by vol nary sacrifice on the altar OF justice Of
the power which has heen the instrument oft In addition
to these persuasive considerations be observed that
W ,hs sso tasohs ~hlch snow the heGe'y VI asylhg 20
the states the power Of regulating coin prove with equal
orce that they ought not 10 be at liberty 10 substitute
paper medium instead Of coin Had every state right to
regulate the value OF its coin there might be many
encies slates and thus the intercourse among them
would be mpeded Retrospective alterations In its value
might be made and thus the citizens o other States be In
Jured and snmoses be kindlsd among tbs States them
selves Ihs subjects Of Ioresn powers might suffer from
smbrolsd BY the ndscretion Of single member. No
Of these mischs Is less incident power tho States
TO emit paper money thsnto coin gold or silver"
Mr.. J. continued. Another reason Shy believe
that the members Of the federal convsnro1 intended
TO establish hard-money government Is, that the
States, II will be conceded by all, possessed and
could exercise, prior to the formation Of that gov
ernment, the sovereign power Of "coining money
and regulating the value thereof" Yet, under the
government, we find that the States Of the confed-
eracy surrendered to the general government all the
power to coin money which they possessed They
prohibited themselves from coming money even OF
power TO this government. What was their object
In deegatng that power Ii was that stable, uni
form, equal currency and standard of value might
be established, which should be the same in every
part of the Union. Is 1t, then, reasonable to sup
pose that the States forming this confederacy should
surrender this high prerogative Of sovereignty
the power to coin money and to regulate the value
thereof-and that they should, at the same time, re.
tain the power of making its representatiyei-of
making that which should pass in the room and
stead Of IL No, sir. They believed, as believe
that they did, in effect establish hard-money gov
ernmenL They had suffered much; they had been
taught in the best of all schools-the schso Of expe-
rence. A standing and lasting monument Of the
changes and fluctuations which have resulted from the
use Of paper money is still visible in this country.
How did II come 10 pass that when the dollar was in
value but four shllings and sxpence sterling, we
fodnd that here, where now egislating il
had come To be seven shilhngs and sxpence' and
that in neighborlng State it had come TO be eight
shllngs' In Virginia, and the New England States,
at the same time II required six shlngs TO make
dollar. How, | ask, did this Gomez Not by the
different sizes of the con but by the depreciation of
the different values Of the paper issues used by the
different colonies on this continent The men Of
that day probably had gone so far into the SCI
ence Of currency and exchanges as we, at a later
day, have gone. When Virginia issued her paper,
II deprecated so far as TO take six shings of that
sixpence. In South Carolina the depreciation was
not great, for it required only four shings and
eIghpence of her paper TO make four shngs and
sixpence sterling. In New York, where the depre-
cation was greatest, II required eight shngs Of
their deprecated paper to make four shings and
slxpence specie or sterling. Instead of taking Oft
the discount when the paper became deprecated
they only added the amount Of depreciation which
would bring the paper up N the original value Of the
dollar IL we had done this in tho late suspension
nf specie payments throughout this country, instead
Of reading in the newspapers that Tennessee paper
was twenty-five per cent discount, and Mississippi
paper hfty, sixty, one hundred, or five hundred per
cent, and the paper Of another State ten per cent
we should have said, in Tennessee, that il required
one hundred and twenty-five cents to make dolar
IN Mississippi one, two, three, four, or five hun
dred cents to make dollar according to the paper
they issued. In another State, where the paper
was deprecated only ten per cent, we should have
said it required one hundred and ten cents to make
dollar; whilst, at the same time, the only dollar
known TO this government was of uniform value
from end Of the Union TO the other-that is to
say, one hundred cents.
know that this argument is sometimes met by
the declaration that bank are not bills of credit
and that therefore they do within the pro-
hibiton of the constitution Of the UnitedSates Now
there is one proposition in which believe all men
concur-that is, that State in this Union can issue
paper intended to circulate through the community
or to perform the functions of money. This would
be direct violation of the provisions of the consti-
tuition. But to get over this difficulty it is said that
the State legislature, though it cannot ITSELF in its
sovereign capacity, issue this paper, yet that
can incorporate a company, and invest that COM
pany with power which it does not itself possess
and cannot exercise. To my mind. such doctrine
is absurd. 1t is absurd to suppose, for a moment
that State delegate to creation of its own a
power which it does not itself possess. Upon that
point, however, have few authorities, which
desire to read. Here is one of Chief Justice Mar
shall--a who stood pre-eminent for his legal at
tainments--a man who, if am not mistaken, is re-
garded by the opponents of this bill as being the
true exponent of the constitution Hear what he
says:
What is bill of credit What did the constitution
to fobidi In Its enlarged and perhaps its literal sense
the term bill OF credit may comprehend any instrument
by which State engages to pay money at future day
thus including certificate for money borrowed But the
language Of the constitution itself and the mischief be
prevented, which know from the history Of
try, equally limit the Interpretation Of the terms. The
word emit is never employed in describing those
by which State binds itself pay money future
day for services actually received for borrowe
poses, in common language denominated bills Of credit
To emit bills of credit conveys the mind the idea
issuing paper intended to circulate through the community
for its ordinary purposes as money which paper redeema
bic at future day This is the in which the terms
have been always understood
AT very early period in our colonial history, the at
tempt to supply the want OF the precious metals by paper
medium made considerable extent and the bills
emitted for this purpose have been frequently denominated
bills of credit During the of revolution
driven to this eXpeden and necessity compelled use
ITO most fearful extent The term has acquired APP
proprate meanings and bills of credit signify paper me.
dium, intended circulate between individuals and be
tween government and individuals, for the ordi
purposes OF society. Such a medium has always
been liable to considerable huctuaon Its value is contn
uay changing and these changes often great and
expose individuals to immense loss the of ruin
specuatons, and destroy all confidence between man
and man To cut up this evil by the roots, a mischief
which felt through the United States and which
y afflicted the interests and prosperity OF all the people
declared in their constitution that State should emit bills
of credit If the prohibition anything If the words
not empty sounds must comprehend the emission
any paper medium by State government for the purpose
of common crculationnSss Per,s's Reports roll A. DID,
43l-2 S-An
Judge Story, (Mr. J. continued,) whose author
ty, in the estimation of the opponents Of this BILL
is second only to that Of Chief Justice Marshall,
says:
1T would 10 be obvious that the States are ex
pressly prohibited from coming money, the prohibition
would be wholly Intellectual If they might paper
currency, and circulate il money y."SiOry'S Comeno.
riss the Constitution abridged edition, page 1873
And again
AT the time Of the adoption of the constitution bills OF
credit universally understood TO signify paper
dium intended TO circulate between individuals and be.
aaAN I.al.. l,..l. NlaA