Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-08-28
ion. And in the 4ath Nc. Of ihe Fsdersli.t, Mr..

y I
The loss which Amerios has sustained since the |
peace fcom the pestilsnt effects Of paper money on
the necessary confidence between man and Ean; On |
the necessary confidence in the public councils; on
the industry and morals Of the people; and on the
character Of Republican Government, constitute an
enormous debt against the States, chaFgeable with
this unadvised measure which must long remain /
unsalisfed; or rather. accumulation OF gults \
which eau be expiatcd no Otherwise than BY a vol
uutary sacrifice the altar Of justice OF the power
which has been the Instrument Of it. In addition
to these persuasive considerations, 1t may be oD~
served that the same reasons which show the neees-
sity Of denying the States the power of reguiat-
ing coin, prove with equal force that they ought not
to be at liberty to substitute paper medium in
stead Of coin. Had every Stale right to regulate
the value Of coin, there might be many curren-
cies States; and thus the intercourse among them
would be impeded Retrospective alterations IN its
value might be msde and thus the citizens OF other
States be injured, and aamosities be kindled among
I the States themselves. The subject Of foreign
Powers might suffer from the same cause; and hence
the Union be discredited aud embFoiled by the in
discretion Of single member. no one OF these
mschiefs is less Incident to power IN the States 10
emit paper money, than to coin gold or silver
Mr.. J. continued Another reason why believe
that the members of the Federal Convention inten-
/ dsd to establish q hard money Government, is that
the States it will be conceded by ell possessed aud
could exercise prior 10 the formation of that Gov
eminent, the sovereign power Of ''coining money
and regulating the value thereof Yet under the
! Government We find that the States Of Che COnfed
eracy surrendered 10 tho General Government all the
power to coin money which tbey possessed. They
prohibited themselves from coming money, even OF
gold and silver, aud they expressly delegated the
power TO this Government. What was their object
ia deiegatiBgthat power? u was, that stable, un-
form, equal currency and standard OF value might
be established, which should be the same in every
part Of the Union. Is it. then, reasonable TO sup
pose that the States forming this COnfederacy SHOULD
surrender this high prerogatiVe of soveregnty-the
power 10 coin money and to regulate the value there
Of--snd that they should at The same time, retain
the power OF making is representatives. making
that which should pass in the and stead Of ig
No. sir They believed, as believe, that they did,
in effect, establish hard-mouey Government They
had suffered much; they had been taught in the best
Of all schools-the school Ofexperienee. standing
aud lasting monument of the changes and huctua-
tions which have resulted from the use Of paper
money is still visible in his country. How did it
10 pass, that when the dollar in value but
four shilings and six pence sterling, found that
here, where we arc now iegislating it had come 10
be shillings and six pence? andthst in neigh
boring State it had como to be eight shillings! In
Virginia, and the New England States, at the same
time, il required shilDgs TO make dollar. How,
ask, did this cone? Not by the different sizes Of
the coin, but By the depreciation Of the different
value Of the paper issues used by the different co.'s
onies on this continent The men Of that day prob
ably had gone so far into the science of currency
8ndexohanges we, at . later day, have gone.
When Virginia issued her paper, it deprecated go
far as 10 take six shiBgs OF that paper to make
what was really four shillings and six pence. In
South Carolina, the depreciation was not so great;
for il required only four shillings aud eight pence
Of her paper TO make four shillings and six pence
sterling. In New York, Wherethe depreciation was
greae est, 1t required eight shings Of their depre>
eisted paper TO make four shillings and six pence
specie or sterling Instead Of taking of the dis
count when the paper became deprecated they only
added the amount Of depreciation which would bring
the paper I'D TO the original value Of the dollar If
we had done this in the late suspension Of specie
payments throughout this country, instead Of read
| ing in the newspapers that Tennessee paper Wss
twenty-five per cent. discount, and Mississippi
paper fifty sixty, one hundred, or I've 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 dollar;
in Mississippi one, two, three, four five hundred
cents 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 ct the same time the only dollar
known to this Government Of uniform value from
one end Of the Union to the other-that is to say,
one hundred cents.
/ know that this argument is sometimes mel
by the declaration that bank notes are not bills o.
credit and that therefore they do not come within
the prohibition of the Constitution Of the United
States. Nov, there Is proposition in which
believe all men concur that is that State in thi
Union issue paper intended to circulate through
the community or TO perform the functions Of mon
ey. This would be direct violation Of the prOvis
ions Of the Constitution. But to get this diff
Guilty, ii is said that the State Legislature, though
cannot itself, in its sovereign capacity, ISSUE
{ this paper yet that it incorporate q company
and invest that company with power which it doei
not itself possess and cannot exercise. To my mind
such doctrine is absurd 1t is absurd to suppose
9 for moment, that State can delegate TO crea
ton Of its own power which it does not itself pos
3 sess Upon that point, however, have q few su
l thOrities, which desire to read. Here is one O.
= Chief Justice Marshall man who stood pre- emf
nent for his legal sttainment-s man who, if an
: not mistaken is regarded by the opponents Of th
bill as being the true exponant Of the Constitution
Hear what he says
] ssWhat is a bill Of creditg What did the Censti
] tuition mean to forbid? In its enlarged, aLd per
hans its literal sense the term bill of credit ma
, comprehend any instrument By which State en-
cages to pay money at future day, thus including
! q certificate for money borrowed. But the Language
of the Constitution itself, and the mischief 10 b.
prevented, which We know from the history of ou
| country, equally limit the Interpretation of tn
terms. The word 'emiC IS never employed IN de
I scTibing those contracts by which State binds it.
self 10 gay money 81 future day for services actu
ally received for money borrowed for present use
nor are instruments executed for such purposes il
+. common language denominated bills of credit Il
issuing paper intended to circulate through the
munity for its ordinary purposes as money, Whicl
e paper is redeemable at future day. This is tn
sense in which the terms have been always IN
derstood.
eat very early period in our colonial history
the attempt supply the want Of the precious met
i ais by paper medium was made TO a considerable
extent and the bills emitted for this purpose hay
: been frequently denominated bills Of credit. Dur
q ing the war Of our Revolution, We were driven l.
s this expedent, and necessity compelled US to Us
it to most fearful extent. The term has acquires
|; an appropriate meaning and bills Of credit sgnif
d q paper medium, intended to circulate between in
diVidusls, and between Government and individuals
g for he ordinary purposes Of society. Such medi
um has always been liable to considerable fuctuaion
! It's value is continually changing and these changes
often great and sudden expose individuals to i'm
mense loss, are the sources Of Tunous specuations
: and destroy all confidence between man and man
To cut up this evil by the ROOTS q mischief wbic
was felt through the United States aud which deep
. " afflicted the interests and prosperity Of all, tb
people declared in their Constitution that no Stat
q should emit bills Of credit. If the prohibition
means anything, if the words not empty sounds
s il must comprehend the emission Of any paper me
f dun By State Government for the purpose Of com
i mon circulation. See Peters Reports, VOl 4, Pr
8 43l-2.84
9 Judge Story (Mr. ]. oOntinued,) whose authority
i in the estimation Of the opponents Of this bill,
second only to that Of Chief Justice Marshall says
. 'sIt would seem to be obvious, that as the Stat,
y are expressly prohibited from coming money, tn
Kill sr.nfr II.