CH. XXXIII.]
PROHIBITIONS—PAPER MONEY.
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colonies, except Nova Scotia, at different times and for various purposes, authorized the issue of paper money.[1] There was a uniform tendency to depreciation, wherever it was persisted in.[2]
§ 1357. It would seem to be obvious, that, as the states are expressly prohibited from coining money, the prohibition would be wholly ineffectual, if they might create a paper currency, and circulate it as money. But, as it might become necessary for the states to borrow money, the prohibition could not be intended to prevent such an exercise of power, on giving to the lender a certificate of the amount borrowed, and a promise to repay it.
§ 1358. What, then, is the true meaning of the phrase "bills of credit" in the constitution? In its enlarged, and perhaps in its literal sense, it may comprehend any instrument, by which a state engages to pay money at a future day (and of course, for which it obtains a present credit;) and thus it would include a certificate given for money borrowed. But the language of the constitution itself, and the mischief to be prevented, which we know from the history of our country, equally limit the interpretation of the terms. The word "emit" is never employed in describing those contracts, by which a state binds itself to pay money at a future day for services actually received, or for money borrowed for present use. Nor are instruments, executed for such purposes, in common language denominated "bills of credit." To emit bills of credit conveys to the mind the idea of issuing paper, intended to circulate through the community for its ordinary purposes, as money, which paper is redeemable at a future day. This is the sense,