-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Feldman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 7:51 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [users] Re: Download time for open office
On Sat, 10 May 2008 10:29:22 -0400
John W Kennedy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Let's not use this mailing list as a forum for political lies. The US
> Constitution does not and never did make any such specification, as
> can be readily ascertained merely by taking the time to read it.
This is agreed. I double checked the Constitution earlier when I Bob Estes'
post, but I decided not to post. Additionally, Congress authorized the US
Mint in 1792. There is nowhere in either the US Constitution or the Coinage
Act of 2 April 1792 that prevents the issuing of paper money. At that time,
paper money was issued by the Bank of the United States and some states and
even corporations.
_____________________
Do a search on "legal tender cases", you should find 4 cases from the 1870s.
Read the first case ... then U.S. Grant got to appoint 2 new justices. Then
read the other 3.
Under the federal constitution, Congress has only those powers delegated to
it. The Founders were quite brilliant and articulate. When they wrote
"coin", they meant "coin". They had all witnessed the disastrous outcome of
the various colonies printing paper money during the Revolutionary War
period ... and they wished never to see that occur again.
We had no nationally issued paper money of any consequence until the Civil
War, when Lincoln issued "Greenbacks". But there were really warehouse
receipts, redeemable in gold, and not freestanding money in and of
themselves. It wasn't until after Seward's certification of the 14th
Amendment and subsequent 1868 legislation that the groundwork was laid for
the issuance of the first so-called paper money ... which led to the Supreme
Court cases referenced above.
The Founders understood full well the distinction between a medium of
exchange that, in and of itself, possesses intrinsic value equal to its face
value, as do gold and silver, vs. fiat money, which is basically worthless
and it only accepted under legislative or executive/royal decree (fiat).
More important, what we have today is not issued by the United States
government, but rather by a privately owned corporation called The Federal
Reserve System. Look at any piece of currency, the title is quite clear:
Federal Reserve Note
It's owned by the Federal Reserve, and it's a note ... a debt instrument ...
not money of any kind. That it is nonnegotiable and nonredeemable speaks
volumes ... if you understand such matters.
Best,
Elchanan
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