Questions about the Constitution

AND SILVER COIN A TENDER. If you keep Reading what the weight of gold and silver in each coin is supposed to be.
Anyway if you pay for something with a Federal Reserve Note. It has not been paid for. The federal reserve has published a little booklet that explains that a federal reserve Note is a promise to pay but not payment in and of it self. because the only lawful money is Gold and Silver coined by the congress. So payment has not really been received until you get the Gold or Silver. remember that Dollar bills used to say: Redeemable in lawful money". which is Gold and Silver Coin.

By the way look at the last paragraph of Article 1 Section 10.

The part about not waging war unless actually invaded, hmuh.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

if Alex is a joke so is Ron Paul who knows Alex for 10 years as a friend and was on his show something like 50 times + his son Rand Peter Schiff and hundreds of other freedom fighters!!

Stop this crap NOW*))
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"Better to fight for something than live for nothing.”
-- George S. Patton
“Complacent ignorance is the most lethal sickness of the soul.”
-- Plato

For starters, bravo to you for beginning your study of the Constitution. More people need to do as you are.

#1) Yes, Congress cannot appropriate money for a period for longer than two years with respect to supporting an Army. So they simply appropriate money each year to get around that. (They have been doing this forever. The alternative is to appropriate a set amount for say 5-10 years at a time so the funding is locked in. The Constitution prohibits this and ties it into the time frame coincident with an election of the House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate. The intent there was that a major portion of Congress would face the voters if they raised an Army and supported it against the public's wishes. They could then be replaced and the new Congress simply not vote to renew the funding. Due to annual appropriations, they don't have to be concerned with this provision, but we can still vote them out - not that we do mind you.)

#2) The actual wording in Article 1 §10 is that "No State shall...make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts;" notice the capitalization. (most online sources do not show this original capitalization from the actual document and erroneously "correct" for it) Under proper rules of English grammar, such capitalization of a noun indicates a specific thing rather than "any" thing fitting under that label. In this case the capitalization of "Coin" indicates that they are referring to a specific coin and not just any coin, and that this would be the Coin(s) referenced in Article 1 § 8.

The full text of the "money" clause is as follows:

"To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin,
and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;"

Again here, notice capitalization. "Money" refers to something specific not just any old thing used as currency. Note too that Congress was specifically given the power to COIN money, not to print currency or issue "notes of indebtedness" or to "emit bills of credit." (which is what Federal Reserve Notes and United States Notes really are) The Convention specifically debated this issue of the power to issue "paper currency." (in light of their disastrous experiment with what was known as "Continental Currency") There was a drive to prohibit that power to Congress, but it was decided that doing so was dangerous because since the premise was that Congress ONLY had power to do what was listed, that to prohibit such would eventually be interpreted to mean they had "some" power in that area. (see my notes later on the legal tender power. In hindsight of 210 years, we should have prohibited it)

So here is where we stand.

Congress has the power to:

Coin Money
regulate its Value
regulate the Value of foreign Coin
fix the Standard of Weights and Measures

(They have not officially ever exercised the last power)

The reason they were given the power to regulate the Value of foreign Coin was because such money circulated here in the U.S. for several decades until Congress outlawed it before the Civil War. (There are arguments they didn't have the power to do so and that it still should circulate but that would take longer to explain why)

In exercising these powers, Congress adopted the "Dollar" as the unit of account, and divided it into decimal fractions, dimes and cents, and then specified that it should be near or equal in weight and purity to the Spanish Milled Dollar in circulation at the time. (the Spanish Dollar was otherwise known as the Pieces of Eight and divided into 8 "bits" or "reals") A "US Dollar" has ALWAYS been a COIN of that weight and purity. (371 4/16 grains of .999 fine silver) Gold coins were also authorized at the ratio of $15:$1 (ounce gold for ounce silver) This ratio was changed over the years and doing so always caused market disruptions. The last official ratio was set at appx 32.65:1 or $42.2222/ounce of gold and $1.2929/ounce for silver - the US government still values its stockpiles, if any, at this official price. (the only thing changed was gold, silver has been constant since the first coinage act)

Currency, such as the Lincoln Era Greenbacks, the 20th century United States Notes, or the early issue Federal Reserve Notes ARE NOT "Money" and ARE NOT "Dollars." They are "notes of indebtedness" showing evidence that some entity, usually the U.S. Government, owes and will pay, the bearer on demand, actual "Dollars." Federal Reserve Notes are no longer redeemable in "lawful money" as previous issues were. They are "notes of indebtedness" of the U.S. government to the Federal Reserve. In this sense they were "backed" by gold/silver, but they were not "Money." (only the actual coins are considered lawful money) Today, there are no circulating notes that are backed by gold or silver. We are on a 100% fiat currency standard.

Now, continuing on, the States are prohibited from declaring any Thing else a Tender in Payment of Debts. Taking into account the premise that the States are ceding power to Congress via the Constitution, and the Congress was never given the power to declare what shall be a Tender in the Payment of Debt in Article 1 § 8, then it follows that Congress DOES NOT HAVE THIS POWER. (hence all federal legal tender laws are unconstitutional) That power is RETAINED by the States, with the exception and limitation set forth in Article 1 § 10 noted above.

The intent here is that Congress would Coin the Money for the nation and set a universal exchange rate for each of the foreign Coins that might circulate so all Money being used would be on the same standard across the nation. (previously, each state set its own exchange rates against the Pound, Franc, Guilder, Lire, Mark, etc.)

The States could declare what should be a Tender in Payment of Debt, but that would only be with respect to what the Courts would use to determine if a debt had in fact been paid. (most likely only to government or to "dollar" denominated contracts, anyone can contract with anyone to be paid in sheep if they feel like it and the debt would be considered paid)

What we have now though is that there is little or no Money in circulation at all. No one is paying for anything. People are "discharging debt" but not paying it. (you do this by exchanging one debt for another, the debt is considered discharged because now someone else owes the debt rather than you, but the debt is still not "paid") Tendering a "note of indebtedness" is exchanging one debt for another. The debt of the U.S. to the Federal Reserve in exchanged for the debt you owe say, the local cleaners. You now no longer owe the cleaners, the U.S. government does, but the debt is not paid because the cleaners still hasn't received any money to satisfy it. But the feds are never made to pay up. The cleaners will simply exchange those notes to whomever they owe money to and the cycle continues.

We no longer have a monetary system in this country. We have a credit system. Everything is operating on the power of Congress "To borrow Money on the credit of the United States." They never actually take possession of any lawful money from the Fed however, and instead opt for computer blips. Some of it is taken in the form of actual currency to facilitate commerce, and those are what are termed "Federal Reserve Notes" or what everyone else on the planet who doesn't know all this stuff calls them: "U.S. Dollars."

Hope all that helps! Phew!

I think you better read more carefully: Article 1, Section 10 says, "No State. . . shall make any Thiing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in payment of Debts;" This is much different than what you said that it says!

Also, Article 1, Section 8 says that Congress shall have the power to "Coin money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures." How do you "coin" money that is not metal? Answer? You can't.

Further, going back to Article 1, Section 10, it is said that "No State shall. . .emit Bills of Credit;" Bills of credit are paper money. So States are forbidden to emit paper money and nowhere was Congress given the power to emit bills of credit (paper money), so Federal Reserve Notes are doubly unconstitutional - they are not gold or silver AND the government is nowhere authorized to print them.

Regarding the appropriations of money for two years: All they have to do is vote on new appropriations every two years. The good news is that it does force Congress to rethink it at least every two years. (Oops! Did I say something about congress thinking?)