The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Article I, Section 10, Clause 1: "No State shall … coin money [or] emit Bills of Credit…." This provision in the Constitution reminds the States that Congress has the authority to mint coins or print paper money. The term "Bills of Credit" refers to any type of money not backed by silver or gold.
One of the worst problems of the Revolutionary War "was the lack of national control over money and credits. In section 8 this power had been specifically reserved to the national government so that there would be a central control of whatever medium was used as legal tender in commercial transactions" (W. Cleon Skousen, The Making of America - The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p 493).
The Constitution prohibited states from making any type of money and shifted "the power to make economic policy from the states to the federal government. In the late eighteenth century, money and trade were the prime mechanisms for regulating the economy, and the Constitution gave both exclusively to the new central government" (David F. Forte, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, p 168).
"Mtazamo wa kwanza wa sheria hii ya msingi ni kifungu cha 10, kifungu cha 1 cha Katiba ya Marekani, ambayo inasema: ""Hakuna serikali yoyote itakayotengeneza fedha au kutoa hati za mkopo.""" Sheria hiyo ya katiba inawakumbusha majimbo kwamba Bunge lina mamlaka ya kutengeneza sarafu au kuchapisha pesa za karatasi. Neno "Masharti ya Mikopo" hurejezea aina yoyote ya pesa zisizo na fedha au dhahabu. Mojawapo ya matatizo mabaya zaidi ya Vita vya Uhuru "ilikuwa ukosefu wa udhibiti wa kitaifa juu ya pesa na mikopo. "Katika kifungu cha 8, mamlaka hii ilikuwa maalum kuhifadhiwa kwa serikali ya kitaifa ili kuwa na udhibiti wa kati wa vyombo vyovyote vilivyotumiwa kama njia halali ya malipo katika shughuli za kibiashara. "" (W. Cleon Skousen, The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 493)" Katiba ilikataza majimbo kutengeneza aina yoyote ya pesa na kuhamisha "nguvu ya kufanya sera za kiuchumi kutoka kwa majimbo hadi serikali ya shirikisho. "Mwaka wa 18 fedha na biashara zilikuwa njia kuu za kudhibiti uchumi, na Katiba ilitoa zote mbili kwa serikali mpya ya kati "" (David F. Forte, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, p.168)."