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Legal Tender - new article
'''Legal tender''' refers to a form of payment that legally satisfies a debt. A dollar bill is a common form of legal tender in the [[United States]].
'''Legal tender''' is any form of payment that, according to [[law]], a [[creditor]] ''must'' accept if offered as payment of a [[debt]]. A creditor may, of course, accept anything that he can persuade a [[debtor]] to offer him. But if the debtor has sufficient legal tender, the creditor must accept it and cannot insist on any other form of payment.
== Ancient history ==
Since the redevelopment of [[civilization]] after the [[Great Flood]], [[gold]] and [[silver]] and, where applicable, [[copper]] and other [[metal]]s have served for legal tender. The [[Roman Empire]] was the first empire to debase its [[currency]] by minting adulterated coins. History has been [[inflation]]ary, but only because gold and silver are still available through [[mine|mining]].
== United States dollars ==
The first United States currency was the Continental. It was supposed to be silver-backed, but the [[Second Continental Congress]] could not back its currency, and everyone knew it. "Not worth a Continental" became a common epithet. (Supporters of the Spanish general and future [[Viceroy]] [[Bernardo de Galvez]] insist that Galvez offered to back the Continental in addition to his military exploits in British West Florida. This, they say, is further evidence that Galvez and his men deserve recognition as [[Revolutionary War]] patriots by the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution.)
After the war, and under the new [[Constitution]], the United States dollar was one [[ounce]] of silver, or one-twentieth of an ounce of gold. (The name ''dollar'' meant "a twentieth of an ounce.") That the gold:silver ratio was fixed at 1:20, one may infer from the circulation of silver dollars, and the language of [[Amendment VI]] of the Constitution, that calls for jury trials in civil cases "where the value in question shall exceed twenty dollars."
In 1962,<ref name=USHist>"[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h172.html Legal Tender]," US History site, retrieved 30 May 2011.</ref> [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] authorized the printing of the first [[greenbacks]], paper currency intended to pay for the [[Civil War]]. After the war, greenbacks continued to circulate, but were worth much less than gold-standard dollars. The [[Supreme Court of the United States]], in ''Hepburn v. Griswold'' (1870), held that the greenback enabling legislation was unconstitutional, in that by making greenbacks legal tender, the government was "depriv[ing] [men] of...property without due process of law." But when President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] made two more Court appointments, the Court reversed itself. In ''Knox v. Lee'' (1871), the Court held that Congress had an "implied power" to make paper currency legal tender.
States, however, may not make anything other than gold and silver coin legal tender. Whether the federal government wants States to do even that much is open to question. [[Utah]] recently (May, 2011) made gold and silver coins legal tender in the State, with a valuation from the weight of the metal, not merely the face value of the coin.<ref name=Utah>Hurlbut TA, "[http://www.conservativenewsandviews.com/2011/05/30/news/gold-and-silver-legal-tender-in-utah/ Gold and Silver Legal Tender in Utah]," Conservative News and Views, 30 May 2011.</ref>
This was the first instance on record of the "packing" of the Supreme Court. It would not be the last.
== International law ==
In the international [[oil]] markets, the [[United States]] [[Dollar]] became a type of legal tender defined by informal executive agreement. All oil exporters currently accept payment in dollars for oil.<ref name=Petrodollar1>Hurlbut TA, "Petrodollars, War, Peace, and Economics, Parts [http://www.conservativenewsandviews.com/2011/05/12/money/petrodollars-war-peace-and-economics-part-1/ 1] and [http://www.conservativenewsandviews.com/2011/05/12/money/petrodollars-war-peace-and-economics-part-2/ 2], Conservative News and Views, 12 May 2011.</ref>
== References ==
{{reflist}}