John McLean

“ Bills of credit were viewed in the United States in the same way, before the adoption of the constitution, and immediately afterwards. That the definition of a bill, by the common law and common acceptation, is the same here as in England, and has ever been so accepted, is a proposition which needs only to be asserted; the same reasoning also attaches to a letter of credit, in a mercantile sense, and the same distinction which has been shown to exist there, between bank-bills and bank-notes, was in the most explicit manner recognised, during the revolution. ”

“ If, then, the powers not delegated to the federal government, nor denied to the states, are retained by the states or the people; and by a fair construction of the terms bills of credit, as used in the constitution, they do not include ordinary bank-notes; does it not follow, that the power to incorporate banks to issue these notes may be exercised by a state? A uniform course of action, involving the right to the exercise of an important power by the state governments, for half a century-and this, almost without question is no unsatisfactory evidence that the power is rightfully exercised. ”

“ The prohibition could not have been intended to prevent the people from taking as money, what would answer all the purposes of money in the interchanges of society, nor to deprive them of the exercise of their free will; on the contrary, it was made to prevent the coercion of their free will by a tender law, and leave them free to enforce the obligation of their contracts for the payment of money, and the enjoyment of their property.
In the construction of all laws, we look to the old law, the mischief and the remedy, and so expound it, as to suppress the mischief, and advance the remedy ”

“ Because a state assigns funds for the payment of its debts or bills, does it follow, that the holder trusts exclusively to those funds?
When a creditor takes a pledge, or has a security for payment of his debt, does he thereby exonerate the debtor from all personal responsibility? If the agent is authorized to pledge certain funds of his principal for the payment of the debt, does that exonerate the principal from all personal liability? ”

“ So long as they were not made a tender, they could produce no evils, not common to all paper, whether of a state, a corporation or individual, which, by common consent, passes from hand to hand in the ordinary transactions of life. To prevent the circulation of such a medium, it was not necessary to call into action the high power of the constitution; the evil would cure itself; when the paper ceased to pass by consent, it would pay no debt, nor lead to the violation of any contract. ”

“ It cannot coin money. Here is an act inhibited in terms so precise that they cannot be mistaken; they are susceptible of but one construction. And it is certain, that a state cannot incorporate any number of individuals, and authorize them to coin money; such an act would be as much a violation of the constitution, as if the money were coined by an officer of the state, under its authority. The act being prohibited, cannot be done by a state, either directly, or indirectly. And the same rule applies as to the emission of bills of credit by a state. ”

“ To relieve the distresses of the community, or the wants of the government, has been the common reason assigned for the increase of a paper medium, at all times and in all countries. When a measure of relief is determined on, it is never difficult to find plausible reasons for its adoption. And it would seem, in regard to this subject, that the present generation has profited but little from the experience of past ages. The notes of this bank, in common with the notes of all other banks in the state, and indeed, throughout the Union, with some exceptions, greatly depreciated. ”

“ When the word bill refers to paper emitted by a bank, there will be found a most marked adherence to the distinction between an obligation and a bill, as appears in the clause of the original charter of the Bank of England, read by plaintiffs' counsel, 'That all and every bill or bills obligatory and of credit, under the seal of the said corporation, made or given to any person or persons, shall and may, by indorsement thereon, &c., be assigned,' &c. ”

“ The citizens must be presumed to trust, in all such cases, to the general credit and good faith of the state; and not merely to the fund contemplated or provided for their redemption. So, in similar cases, the colonies understood their own obligations: so the continental congress, and so the United States have constantly understood their own obligations. Although a fund may have been provided for payment of their bills of credit; although those bills of credit contained no direct promise of the state ”