Legislation of the U.S. Government during the Civil War: A Case of Unconstitutional Governance?

Lest history be forgotten, it may come around again to bite us when we least expect it.

During the war between the Confederate States and the United States of America, The Legal Tender Act required debtors to accept “greenbacks,” the U.S. Government’s paper currency. The National Bank Act barred state banks from issuing notes, giving the U.S. Government a monopoly on paper currency. Finally, The Internal Revenue Act imposed a federal income tax and other levies. Henry Brands asks, however, whether “greenbacks” fall under the U.S. Constitution’s wording that the federal government can “coin” money. If money was in coin specie when the constitution was written, the meaning could be widened to include new means without necessarily extending the power of that government beyond what was intended.

The full essay is at "Unconstitutional Governance in the Civil War."

Source: Henry W. Brands, American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism 1865-1900 (New York: Doubleday, 2010), p. 13.

Referendum on Euro in Latvia: Core of Europe

Two decades after leaving the Soviet Union, Latvia was in 2012 an E.U. state preparing to adopt the euro currency. “We want to be a part of the core of Europe,” Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said. Noting that the GDP was forecast to rise 5% in 2012, he could boast that his state would be an asset to the “Eurozone.” Indeed, only three of the 17 states using the euro—Finland, Luxembourg and Estonia—were expected to have budget deficits of less than 3% of GDP and debt of less than 60 percent—the two key requirements for joining the euro, which Latvia was poised to meet.

  Latvia's PM Valdis Dombrovskis wants to push forward on the euro without a referendum. At what cost politically though?         Getty Images

The full essay is at "Essays on the E.U. Political Economy," available at Amazon.