Fiscal and Monetary Powers – Article I Section 8, Clause 5 and 6 of the Constitution

The United States Constitution

The Fiscal and Monetary Powers Clause are two of Congress’ enumerated powers found in the Constitution of the United States, Article. I. Section. 8., clause 5 and clause 6:

(Clause 5 – Money)

[The Congress shall have Power] To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

(Clause 6 – Counterfeiting)

[The Congress shall have Power] To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
 
 

These clauses permit Congress to coin money and to issue paper currency. By extension, under its ability to enact laws “necessary and proper” to carry out these powers (as stated at the end of Article 1, Section 8), Congress created the Federal Reserve System to regulate the nation’s monetary supply.

Article I, section 8 authorizes Congress to borrow funds and to coin money and regulate its value. The Constitution neither expressly grants nor precludes congressional power to establish a national banking system, to emit bills of credit that can be used to pay debts to the national government, to promote a paper‐money currency by making such bills of credit legal tender for all public and private debts or to control the value of that currency. By the 1930s the Supreme Court found all these to be implied powers.

Fiscal and Monetary Powers, by James May, Answers.com
 
Currency in Circulation: Value – From The Federal Reserve
 
 

The Secret Service Division was created on July 5, 1865 in Washington, D.C., to suppress counterfeit currency. Chief William P. Wood was sworn in by Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch.

Secret Service History
 
 

More

• Pocket Constitution
• The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription – The National Archives
• United States Constitution: Texts, Commentaries, Historical Texts and Judicial Decisions – Law Library of Congress
• CRS Annotated Constitution
• The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation – FDsys
• Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, Govinfo.gov
• CRS Annotated Constitution, LII
• Heritage Guide to the Constitution
• “Federalism and the Constitution: Limits on Congressional Power,” CRS Report RL30315 (31-page PDF)
• “Legislative Powers of Congress: A Brief Reference Guide,” CRS Report 97-434 (20-page PDF)
• “Common Legal Questions and Answers Concerning Currency, Legal Tender and Money,” CRS Report 83-150 (21-page PDF)
• U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing – www.moneyfactory.gov
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Weights and Measures Division
• United States Secret Service
• Clauses 5 and 6. Fiscal and Monetary Powers of the United States – from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute
• Fiscal and Monetary Powers of the United States – from FindLaw
• United States Mint – from Wikipedia
• National Institute of Standards and Technology – from Wikipedia
• Counterfeit money – from Wikipedia
• Gold standard – from Wikipedia
• Fiat money – from Wikipedia
• Fear and Loathing in the CPI

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