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Title: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Passed) Post by: Lumine on July 26, 2018, 07:19:30 PM National Coinage Act of 1791 Be it resolved, Quote 1. The United States Mint shall hereby be established with the responsibility to produce coinage for circulation and to control the movement of bullion. a. Construction of The United States Mint shall be authorized in the seat of the government, to be funded by the Federal Government of these United States. b. The United States Mint shall function as a subsidiary of the State Department. c. The Mint shall be headed by a position to be known as the Director of the United States Mint, which shall be hired by the Treasury Department. The Director of the Mint shall have the power of the chief management of the mint, as well as of the management of all persons employed there. The Director shall have the ability to hire as many persons in whatever positions he deems necessary to staff the mint. 2. The United States Mint shall have the authority to produce the following coins with the following values and specifications: a. Eagles, which shall be worth $10 and contain either 247 ½ grain pure gold or 270 grain standard gold. b. Half Eagles, which shall be worth $5 and contain either 123 ¾ grain pure gold or 135 grain standard gold. c. Quarter-Eagles, which shall be worth $2.50 and contain either 67 ⅞ grain pure gold or 67 ½ grain standard gold. d. Dollars, which shall be worth $1 and contain either 371 ¼ grain pure silver or 416 grain standard silver. e. Half-Dollars, which shall be worth $0.50 and contain either 185 ⅝ grain pure silver or 208 grain standard silver. f. Quarter-Dollars, which shall be worth $0.25 and contain either 92 13/16 grain pure silver or 104 grain standard silver. g. Dimes, which shall be worth $0.10 and contain either 37 ⅛ grain pure silver or 41 ⅗ grain standard silver. h. Half-Dimes, which shall be worth $0.05 and contain either 18 9/16 grain pure gold or 20 ⅘ grain standard gold. i. Cents, which shall be worth $0.01 and contain 11 pennyweights of copper. j. Half-Cents, which shall be worth $0.005 and contain 5 ½ pennyweights of copper. 3. One side of each coin shall feature the face of General Washington with the inscription “Liberty” and the year of the coinage. 4. The reverse side of each coin shall have an inscription expressing its denomination as well as the inscription “The United States of America”. 5. From each separate mass of gold and silver used to make coins, a total of three coins shall be set aside for inspection to take place twice a year on both the first of February and the first of July. The Secretary of the Treasury and Attorney General shall have the responsibility to assess these coins to ensure they meet the standards hereby established. If these standards are not met, the Officers of the Mint shall be subject to termination from their posts. 6. A penalty of time in prison to be determined by a court of law shall be established for any person found debasing the gold or silver coins authorized by this Act, or for any person found embezzling the metals used to produce the coins. 7. Any person shall have to right to bring gold or silver bullion before this Mint and have it coined free of charge, or immediately exchanged for a coin of equal value. 8. All coins produced by the Mint shall be lawful tender in all payments whatsoever. From the Sponsor: Quote Mr. Speaker, The Hamiltonians introduce this Act to create a national Mint and Coinage system for these United States. Our country cannot continue along a path of financial instability and insolvency. Nay, our nation is in need of a standardized currency and a way to produce it to ensure that our commerce is reasonable, prosperous, and secure. To have a strong nation, we must have a strong financial system, and this Act lays the groundwork with which to achieve that. I yield. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: Galaxie on July 26, 2018, 07:24:57 PM Mr. Speaker,
These United States have experimented with a non-existent monetary policy, and we have failed. Our currencies are largely meaningless, inter-state trade is needlessly confounding, and our financial system continues to falter. Many delegates have come to the floor of this Congress with the hopes of righting the ship of fiscal insolvency in our Nation. I believe it is time to enact a system that can truly handle the scale of economy we wish to see here. For if we want this nation to grow and prosper, we must have a reliable, predictable, and robust system of which to do business. I encourage debate, amendments, and thorough discussion over this Act. We only have one chance to build a foundation for a strong United States. Gentlemen, let us do it well. I yield. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: DKrol on July 26, 2018, 09:54:23 PM Mr. Speaker,
I support this legislation as it is written. It is a strong Tory idea from the Honorable Gentleman from Pennsylvania who once sat next to me on the Tory bench. I yield. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: Donerail on July 27, 2018, 12:13:41 PM Mr. Speaker,
I am broadly supportive of this act, but I urge that this enactment of this legislation be delayed by a short period until a location of the new capital be fixed, so that the Mint may be constructed in that city. I yield. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: Galaxie on July 27, 2018, 02:06:30 PM Mr. Speaker,
In regards to the delegate who spoke before me, an amendment could be added to this Act that specifies that the Mint be constructed in the Official Seat of the Government, as to ensure that wherever this may be, the Mint shall be there. I yield. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: terp40hitch on July 27, 2018, 05:56:39 PM Mr. Speaker,
By using gold in some of these coins this will make this bill unfundable and I cannot support something that is unfundable. This cannot pass, I will not stand to let it pass. I and the rest of my Patriots are fully against this legislation. I yield Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: Donerail on July 27, 2018, 06:07:40 PM Mr. Speaker,
I am uncertain why the Patriot faction is so vehemently against the usse of gold in coinage. Gold is commonly used in other national currencies, and is necessary to ensure the currency circulating has value. Does the deputy have an alternative proposal? I yield to my friend from Georgia. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: Galaxie on July 27, 2018, 06:12:27 PM Mr. Speaker,
With all due respect to the Gentleman from Augusta, do tell how our current economic system functions? I would implore you, should you talk to your constituents, ask them how the ease of doing business is. Ask the farmer from Augusta, from Savannah how feasible it is to ship their crops out of state, nay, out of this great Nation! Mr. Gunn, you can bury your head in the sand for so long over our failed Articles of Confederation and the economic mayhem they have created. You can sing about our national debt as much as you like. But this, Mr. Gunn, is a viable, common-sense solution to righting the wrongs you so decry! It is but a simple fact of economics that a nation's currency must be based in a product of undeniable worth. That is why the Spanish Silver Dollar is so universally accepted as a form of payment -- its worth in Silver holds its value undeniably true. Yes, Mr. Gunn, we as a nation may not be of great wealth as of yet. But perhaps if we put our resources, our golds, silvers, and coppers into the smelter and into coinage, put our system of trade both inter-state and international to good use, we would build a wealth big enough for all of us one hundred times over. What is more responsible, Mr. Gunn? Putting our limited gold into a brand new southern city, or into the pockets of our constituents? I yield. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: terp40hitch on July 27, 2018, 06:22:28 PM Mr. Speaker,
I very much opposed to the use of gold since at the level that it will be used for the coins to be produced will cost too much and make it unfundable as I stated earlier. With the amount this country is in debt, I cannot see this country go further down into debt. At this moment, I believe that all the coins should be made out of the cheaper copper which will make this less unfundable. I also would like to get rid of the half-cent which is too small and will cost too much to make even when it is made out of copper. Before I yield, I will like to address Mr. Morris attacks on my character and my values. I am so sorry that you don't care about our national debt but my constituents do and that is why I will constantly talk about the debt of our nation. They fear it will cause a debt crisis and I don't think our young nation can handle that. Our economy is being dragged down by our debt and I will not stand by and let it happen. A government should function like a business and a business that is in debt is a failing business. The government must do something so we don't continue to drive our nation into financial failure. I will never apologize for caring about our national debt or economy. Also, near the end of your speech, you said "we as a nation may not be of great wealth as of yet" and we never will be if we continue to drive this country into debt. I yield Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: wxtransit on July 29, 2018, 01:34:34 PM Mr. Speaker,
While I fully support the goals of this bill and a national currency, I do feel that we need to alleviate our debt situation at least to a point where we can incur debts like this one without too much adverse effect. For this reason, I intend to vote Nay, but allow my party a free vote. I yield. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: Unconditional Surrender Truman on July 29, 2018, 02:48:17 PM Mr. Speaker,
The financial security of these States is imperative to their future prosperity. A stable national currency is, therefore, indispensable. It may be, that in the adoption of this measure, we shall incur some small increase of the national debt. Far better to do so, than to neglect the question entirely, allow the value of our currency to continue to fall, and watch as our commercial prospects sink one by one into the sea. Does the gentleman from Augusta believe, that the states of Europe will be any willing to trade with us, or lend us additional funds, if we continue to rely on the worthless paper Continentals? It is the luxury of opposition to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good; but a government which will bloody its face for spite of its nose is no government at all. I vote that the measure brought by the gentleman from Pennsylvania be adopted, and advise all Whigs to follow. I yield my time to the chair. Title: Re: Legislation: National Coinage Act of 1791 (Hamiltonian) Post by: Lumine on July 30, 2018, 01:13:39 PM Debate having been closed, the Speaker called for a vote:
National Assembly Vote: Moving into the final vote, the result was 39 in favor, 23 against, 4 abstentions. Senate and President: After a heated and controversial debate in the Senate the National Coinage Act of 1791 passed with 16 votes in favor against 11 opposed - and one abstention -, and was promptly signed into law by President Hancock. |