The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-08-30

were so Slnltten Cttb tHe paper money
dread, that they insisted that the prohi-
bition shOuldbe absolute" "It was my
opinion SIR" he proceeds to say, ''that
the States ought not to be totally de
priVed of the right to emit bills of cred
it, and that as we had not given an au-
thOrity to the general government for
that purpose, it was the mo. necessary
to retain it in the States"
The members of the Federal COnven-
ton truly represented the views and
feelings of the people Of the States, by
whom they had been chosen. No one
acquainted with the history of the Rev
olutiOn can be surprised at the extreme
jealousy entertained OfinVesting either
the Federal or State government or
even both, by joint action with any dis
cretion on this subject. 1t is plain that
the men who framed the Constitution
the men who ratified it in the State con-
VentiOns-the great mass of their con-
stituentS-meantn nothing less than to
exclude, forever, in d'ly possible case
Mr.. Martin)-the possibility Of paper
DOneY-( Mr.. Wilson, The public faith
again and again sOlemnly pledged, for
the redemption Of the continental bills
of credit, had been shamefully violated.
The tender laws ofthe States, enacted at
the urgent solicitation Of Congress for
the purpose of sustaining their credit,
had utterly failed. The amount Ofpri-
vate wrong thereby inflicted on indiVid-
ualS and families was incalculable. Con-
gresS in a circular address in 1779-after
promising solemnly that the amount of
the bills should on no account exceed
5000, ,000, 00-indignantly repelled the
idea that there could beany violation of
the public faith, or that there did not
exist ample funds to redeem them. The
emission, however "ery soon after
5Welled to $379, ,000, 900, and having ceas
ed to circulate, quietly died in the hands
of its possessors. 3 Story on the Const.
223- -224. No financiering was found so
easy so attractive-and at the same
time so delusive and destructive as that
of resOrting to paper money, "WhO,"
said a member of the Revolutionary
Congress in debate, twill consent to
load his constituents with taxes, when
we can send to our printer and get a
wagon load Of money, and pay for the
whole with aquire of paper?" Breck's
Of Continental Money, p. 13.
Well said Mr.. Read, of Delaware, in
the Federal Convention, that such
power would stamp the Constitution
with ''the mark OF the beast in Revela-
tions )" and Mr.. Langdon, of New
only expressed the feeliI gs
of the entire country when he declared
that he would rather reject the whole
plan than retain the three words "and
emit bills" 1t requires but slight
knowledge of the times to conclude
that if these three words had been re-
tanned, or had it been imagined that,
though stricken out, as by comparing
the new with the old system every
body could see that they were, they still
lurked in the instrument as incidental
to some other power, the Federal Con-
stitution would never have been rati-
fed by nine States. In the discussion
and publications, which followed on
the prOlnulgatiOn Of the plan, before
proceeding to vote on it in the State
Convention as well as in the debates
of those bodies, so far as they have been
and handed down to US,
though every hole and corner OF the
instrument was ransacked to lind OBJ
iectiOnS, | am not aware that 1T was
ever suggested that it might possibly
contain 50 OdiOus and unpopular
power. The voice of the instrument
itself appeared sufficiently marked and
unmistakable.
III. IcOme now to consider the re-
manning clause, which has been relied
on as the source Of authority TO pass the
acl in question. "TO coin money, reg
ulate the value thereof and of foreign
coin and fix the standard of weights
and measures" Art. l, sec. 8, par. D.
1t is evident not merely from the words,
but from their juXtap0sitiOn with the
clause for fixing standard OF weights
and measures, that the Constitution IN
tends that the money Of the United
States shall be not merely a medium
of exchange but q standard Of rd(ue.--
Uniformity and stability were the ends
in view, and for this reason those pow
ers were vested exclusively in the Fed
eral government. Here and here alone,
and not as mere incident to some,
thing else, are we to look for whatever
Congress possesses over the
subject of money. In the FederdliSf,
No. Y, this is taken for granted. "All
that need be remarked on the power
to coin money, regulate the value there
of and of foreign coin is, that by pro-
viding for this last case, the C0nstitu-
ton has supplied a material omission
in the articles Of confederation. The
authority of the existing Congress Is re-
strained to the regulation Of coin struck
by their own authority or that OF reSpec-
tive States. 1t must be seen at once that
the proposed uniformity IN the cdlue 0tthe
current coin might be destroyed by sub
iecting that of foreign coin to the differ
ent regulations Of the different States"
Judge Story thought so, for he says
sThe power to coin money is one OF the
ordinary prerogatives Of sovereignty,
and is salmost universally exercised in
order to preserve a proper circulation
of QOOd coin Of q k7lOlCH rOIue in the
home market" g Story on the COnst.,
III. But the Supreme Court of the
United States have not left this to in
ference, but have distinctly declared
the same opinion in the United States
VS.. Marigold % Howard, 500, in which
an act of Congress furnishing the Otiense
of importing spurious coin was held
to be constitutional on the ground that
the provisions or the act appertained,
to use the very words of the opinion,
to the execution of an important
trust on the part of the government,
namely, the trust and the duty of ere
ating and maintaining a uniform and
pure netditic standard Of Udl'te through
out the Union. The power of coming
money and of regulating its value, was
delegated to Congress by the Constitu-
ton for the very purpose, as assigned
by the trainers Of that instrument, of
creating and preserving the uniformity
and purity of such a standard of value.
The word coin is one of well settled