IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dlw/wpaper/04-08.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The U.S. Constitution and Monetary Powers: An Analysis of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and How a Constitutional Transformation of the Nation's Monetary System Emerged

Author

Listed:
  • Farley Grubb

    (Department of Economics,University of Delaware)

Abstract

The monetary powers embedded in the U.S. Constitution were revolutionary and led to a watershed transformation in the nation’s monetary structure. They included determining what monies could be legal tender, who could emit fiat paper money, and who could incorporate banks. How the debate at the 1787 Constitutional Convention over these powers evolved and the path the founding fathers took that led to the specific powers adopted is presented and deconstructed. Why they took this path rather than replicate the colonial system and why they codified such powers into supreme law rather than leave them to legislative debate are addressed.

Suggested Citation

  • Farley Grubb, 2004. "The U.S. Constitution and Monetary Powers: An Analysis of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and How a Constitutional Transformation of the Nation's Monetary System Emerged," Working Papers 04-08, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:dlw:wpaper:04-08
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://graduate.lerner.udel.edu/sites/default/files/ECON/PDFs/RePEc/dlw/WorkingPapers/2004/UDWP2004-08.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McGuire, Robert A., 2003. "To Form a More Perfect Union: A New Economic Interpretation of United States Constitution," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195139709.
    2. Martin Feldstein, 2003. "Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number feld03-1, October.
    3. Redish, Angela, 1984. "Why Was Specie Scarce in Colonial Economies? An Analysis of the Canadian Currency, 1796–1830," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 713-728, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Grubb, Farley, 2010. "Testing for the Economic Impact of the U.S. Constitution: Purchasing Power Parity Across the Colonies versus Across the States, 1748–1811," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 118-145, March.
    2. Bordo, Michael D., 1986. "Explorations in monetary history: A survey of the literature," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 339-415, October.
    3. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Shang-Jin Wei, 2004. "Managing Macroeconomic Crises," NBER Working Papers 10907, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. repec:jpe:journl:1889 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Mwangi Kimenyi & William Shughart, 2010. "The political economy of constitutional choice: a study of the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-27, March.
    6. Javier Guillermo G�mez, 2006. "Capital Flows and Monetary Policy," Borradores de Economia 2097, Banco de la Republica.
    7. Grubb, Farley, 2004. "The circulating medium of exchange in colonial Pennsylvania, 1729-1775: new estimates of monetary composition, performance, and economic growth," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 329-360, October.
    8. repec:jpe:journl:1495 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Ben Baack & Robert A. McGuire & T. Norman Van Cott, 2009. "Constitutional Agreement during the Drafting of the Constitution: A New Interpretation," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 533-567, June.
    10. Xavier Cuadras‐Morató, 2009. "Circulation Of Private Notes During A Currency Shortage," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 77(4), pages 461-478, July.
    11. Farley Grubb, 2004. "Purchasing Power Parity Across Six British Colonies Versus Across the Same Six U.S. States, 1748-1811," Working Papers 04-05, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    12. Aizenman, Joshua, 2008. "On the hidden links between financial and trade opening," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 372-386, April.
    13. Ruttan, Vernon W., 2007. "Why is Nation Building So Bloody? Two Cases," Staff Papers 7305, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    14. Farley W. Grubb, 2005. "State "Currencies" and the Transition to the U.S. Dollar: Reply—Including a New View from Canada," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1341-1348, September.
    15. Menzie Chinn & Jeffrey A. Frankel, 2007. "Will the Euro Eventually Surpass the Dollar as Leading International Reserve Currency?," NBER Chapters, in: G7 Current Account Imbalances: Sustainability and Adjustment, pages 283-338, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Jaime Jaramillo U. & Adolfo Meisel R. & Miguel Urrutia, 1997. "Continuities and Discontinuities in the Fiscal and Monetary Institutions of New Granada 1783-1850," Borradores de Economia 2197, Banco de la Republica.
    17. Jesus Munoz, 2011. "Orthodox versus Heterodox (Minskyan) Perspectives of Financial Crises: Explosion in the 1990s versus Implosion in the 2000s," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_695, Levy Economics Institute.
    18. Pavlik, Jamie Bologna & Jahan, Israt & Young, Andrew T., 2023. "Do longer constitutions corrupt?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    19. Fernando Cerqueira Lima & Rita Martins de Sousa, 2015. "Production, Supply and Circulation of 'National' Gold Coins in Brazil (1720-1807)," Working Papers GHES - Office of Economic and Social History 2015/56, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, GHES - Social and Economic History Research Unit, Universidade de Lisboa.
    20. Huberto M. Ennis, 2003. "Shortages of small change in early Argentina," Working Paper 03-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    21. Sebastian Coll, 2008. "The origins and evolution of democracy: an exercise in history from a constitutional economics approach," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 313-355, December.
    22. Joshua Aizenman, 2004. "Financial Opening: Evidence and Policy Options," NBER Chapters, in: Challenges to Globalization: Analyzing the Economics, pages 473-494, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    JEL classification:

    • N1 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dlw:wpaper:04-08. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Saul Hoffman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deudeus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.