Constitutional Money

by Timberlake, Richard H.

• ISBN13: 9781107032545
• ISBN10: 1107032547
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-04-30
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

This book reviews nine Supreme Court cases and decisions that dealt with monetary laws and gives a summary history of monetary events and policies as they were affected by the Court's decisions. Several cases and decisions had notable consequences on the monetary history of the United States, some of which were blatant misjudgments stimulated by political pressures. The cases included in this book begin with McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819 and end with the Gold Clause Cases in 1934-35. Constitutional Money examines three institutions that were prominent in these decisions: the Supreme Court, the gold standard, and the Federal Reserve System. The final chapter describes the adjustments necessary to return to a gold standard and briefly examines the constitutional alternatives.

Table of Contents

The current state of monetary affairs in the United States

Emergence of money in civilized societies

Bimetallic monetary systems and appearance of a national bank

McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819, and the Second Bank of the United States

'To coin money and regulate the value thereof'

Craig v. Missouri, 1830

Briscoe v. Bank of Kentucky, 1837

Government issues of treasury notes and greenbacks

Track of the legal tender bills through Congress, 1862-3

Bronson v. Rodes, 1868

Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 1869

Hepburn v. Griswold, 1870: the legal tender issue

Knox v. Lee and Parker v. Davis, 1871: reversal of Hepburn

Monetary affairs in the United States, 1871-83

Juilliard v. Greenman, 1884: the final legal tender decision

Judicial commentaries on the legal tender cases: sovereignty

Other commentaries on the legal tender cases

The [Gold] Currency Act of 1900: monetary affairs in the United States before 1914

The Federal Reserve System, 1914-29

The great monetary contraction, 1929-33

Gold! where was it? what happened to it?

The Gold Clause Cases, 1934-5

Gold and money in the twentieth century

A Constitutional monetary system

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