THE UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF ACT OF CONGRESS OF FEBRUARY 12, 1873, DEMONETIZING SILVER. BY HON. THOMAS T. GANTT, LATE ONE OF THE JUDGES OF THE ST. LOUIS COURT OF APPEALS. REPRINTED FROM THE SOUTHERN LAW REVIEW.
St. Louis: G.I. Jones and Company, 1877. [1-title], [1 blank], 42pp. Disbound, spine reinforced with paper tape. A few small chips to blank edges of outermost leaves. A few insignificant spots, else Very Good.
The Coinage Act of 1873 took the country off the bimetallic standard under which gold and silver had both been legal tender since 1792. Populists and debtors sought the return of silver and bimetallism, in order to increase the money supply. Judge Gantt, who had been a Colonel in the Union Army during the War, undertakes a detailed and minute examination of Congress's constitutional power to coin money. He argues that the Coinage Act is unconstitutional, because only the States, not Congress, have power to declare what constitutes legal tender. Congress's only function "in respect of money, is to coin it and regulate the value of it and of foreign coin."
OCLC 43330498 [6]. Not in Marke, Harv. Law Cat. Item #25344
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