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CHAPTER XVII. POWER TO COIN MONEY AND FIX THE STANDARD OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. § 1116. The next power of Congress is " to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures."1 § 1117. Under the confederation, the continental congress had delegated to them " the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the States," and " fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United States." It is observable that, under the confederation, there was no power given to regulate the value of foreign coin, an omission which, in a great measure, would destroy any uniformity in the value of the current coin, since the respective States might, by different regulations, create a different value in each.2 The Constitution has, with great propriety, cured this defect; and, indeed, the whole clause, as it now stands, does not seem to have attracted any discussionin the convention.1 It has been justly remarked, that the power "to coin money" would, doubtless, include that of regulating its value, had the latter power not been expressly inserted. But the Constitution abounds with pleonasms and repetitions of this nature.2 1 [After the breaking out of the great civil war in 1861, it was deemed necessary by Congress, in order to supply the means of carrying on the war, to issue a large amount of treasury notes, and to make them a legal tender in payment of private debts, and also of all public dues except duties on imports and interest on the public debt. These notes thereupon, to a large extent, became the circulating medinm of the country, and goldand silver ceased to be used in ordinary traffic, except on the Pacific slope. The constitutiona...