1868 – SPEECH OF CONGRESSMAN SAMUEL FENTON (INDEPENDENT REPUBLICAN) OF OHIO ON FLOOR OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
“Our Constitution gives to Congress the exclusive power to coin money
and regulate the value thereof... These are attributes of sovereignty
and belong exclusively to the representatives of the whole people...The
value of money has no relation to or dependence upon the material of
which it is made. If it has the properties or powers of representing,
measuring, and exchanging value, it is money; and these properties or
powers are not inherent in any substance, but are conferred upon any
chosen material by the sovereign power....The Greenback, as it has been
denominated, was an invaluable expedient, backing our boys in blue and
covering their backs at the same time. It served our purpose well and
will serve us still if permitted. It helped us through one danger and
will bear us triumphantly through another unless the cupidity of
bankers, bondholders and shoddy contractors shall triumph over the
industrial and tax-paying classes of our people...The first step in the
right direction will be to pass a law to call in and cancel the entire
bank circulation and simultaneously issue an equal quantity of Treasury
certificates or legal tenders.”
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