The Power "to Coin" Money: The Exercise of Monetary Powers by the CongressM.E. Sharpe, 1992 - 272 pages This book traces the history from colonial times to the present of the monetary powers exercised by the Congress under the Constitution. It follows the evolution of the American banking and monetary system from the perspective of specific provisions in the Constitution that authorize the government to coin money and regulate its value. The author critically examines how far the development of the contemporary money and banking system has pushed beyond the narrow powers spelled out in the Constitution. He shows how changes in congressional legislation, Supreme Court decisions on precedent-setting cases, and the evolution of central banking powers within the Federal Reserve System have expanded the scope of the federal government's monetary powers. Yet, the author views this history within the context of private limits to the authority of Congress and the Congress's distrust of lodging the central bank within the Executive branch, preferring instead to respect an independent central banking tradition. The Hamiltonian tradition, he concludes, still offers the best institutional arrangement to confront unstable markets and destabilizing political influence. |
Contents
iii | |
The Scope of Monetary Policy | xiii |
Interpreting the Constitution | 25 |
Roots of the Constitutions Monetary Provisions | 43 |
Drafting the Monetary Provisions of the Constitution | 65 |
Establishing the Bank of the United States | 79 |
Federal Coins and State Bank Notes | 103 |
Federal Bills of Credit | 127 |
National Currency System | 141 |
Creation and Control of the Federal Reserve System | 165 |
Managing an Elastic Supply of Bills of Credit | 193 |
A Supreme Court of Finance | 219 |
INDEX | 239 |
259 | |
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Common terms and phrases
America appointed Articles of Confederation bank notes banking system bills of credit central bank charter circulation Civil Civil War Tokens coin money coinage colonial Congress constitutional interpretation contracts Convention debt delegated deposits Documentary History economic emit bills established express language expressly favored federal government Federal Reserve Act Federal Reserve Bank Federal Reserve System financial system FOMC framers Friedman and Schwartz gold and silver gold clauses gold coins gold standard government's granted greenbacks Hamilton Ibid independent inflation inflationary institutional interest rates issuance Krooss legal tender legal tender paper legal tender standing legislation Madison ment million monetary authority monetary base Monetary History monetary policy monetary powers monetary provisions monetary system money supply national bank national currency paper money percent President profit prohibited redistributive regulate the value scrip seigniorage Senator serve silver coins sovereignty Spanish dollar Supreme Court tender paper money tion tional tokens Treasury York
References to this book
Securing the Commonwealth: Debt, Speculation, and Writing in the Making of ... Jennifer J. Baker No preview available - 2008 |