| Show Have you bitten any gold coins r Cleova Williams Feature Page Editor Have you bitten any gold coins lately testing testing testing test test- ing their quality Life would feel more secure if our money had intrinsic value and not just justa a semi-good semi reputation Our monetary system has not just strayed from its original constitutional constitutional constitutional form it has turned inside out and represents represents represents rep rep- resents the opposite of its origin Congress was given the responsibility to produce national coin and set weights with values Paper money was discussed early but vehemently struck down A hard lesson had been learned in the revolutionary war The government ruling under the Articles o of f Confederation Confederation Confederation Con Con- federation issued paper money to pay revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary soldiers The leaders assumed that the states would be responsible for the national governments government's debt and redeem the paper in ingold ingold ingold gold or silver coins The states had a different idea They liked producing money from thin air From their thin air they created vast quantities of paper money The value of the dollar fell to less than one cent per paper dollar Ellsworth declared at the continental convention convention convention con con- shut and bar the door against paper money The key didn't get hidden well enough someone unbarred the paper door For eighty years Americans carried heavy coinage around with them which was too bulky to transport and hard to hide The public was persuaded to turn to the convenience convenience convenience con con- of paper It could be carried more privately and safely It didn't jingle in your pocket or over-burden over your suitcase It appeared that stable protections were within the federal government to secure paper paoj money backed acl l by gold gole and silver The Coinage Act of 1792 carried a death penalty for anyone debasing money Alexander Hamilton persuasively pushed the concept of bank notes through Congress Thousands of private banks issued far more notes than there were available gold reserves National tensions were already stretching the Union to its limits Civil war broke out In order to fund the war Congress issued greenbacks paper money that had no backing backing backing back back- ing and was therefore not redeemable The value of a greenback dropped to 35 cents At Atthe Atthe Atthe the end of the war congress moved to restore confidence in American money by standing behind its green backs In 1878 they were backed up by gold Recognizing problems in the private bank banknote banknote banknote note system congress phased them out in favor of national banks issuing national bank notes These national banks were replaced in 1913 by the Federal Reserve System In just twenty short years the Federal Reserve turned our national monetary system backwards The successful system of backing money completely with precious metal was abandoned in 1933 All gold coins and gold redeemable notes were called in and debased The content of gold was reduced as much as 50 I want to know why the Coinage Act of 1797 wasn't used on a few money Of course the Federal Reserve received title to all gold collected and exchanged it with silver certificates It lost 40 of its value quickly At first these Federal Reserve notes were all redeemable in silver and retained the remaining 60 The wording on Federal Reserve notes began to change becoming obscure The money were plotting again In 1965 they brought in sandwich dimes and quarters with only a thin layer of silver on the outside Standing them on end you can see the copper copper copper cop cop- per centers In 1968 Americas America's precious metal standard standard standard stand stand- ard fell Federal Reserve notes were produced Americans were subject to a dual standard for years Within US U.S. borders the new paper money wasn't redeemable in gold or silver but on the foreign market it was The national nation nation- al gold reserves began flowing to other countries In foreign governments governments' held huge stores of American Am tender and began acting nervously They started making moves to redeem it all of gold Congress cut off the flow of gold and the dollar collapsed on the world market Repercussions were felt worldwide The US dollar had been the strongest in the world Other nations based the value of their money on the value of the American dollar All solid backing was removed in 1973 and Congress declared the money legal tender Though the current monetary system is completely outside the constitution it is considered considered considered con con- legal tender |
