“The Constitution denies the states the power to make anything other than gold or silver coins legal tender in payment of debts.”

“No government proposal more complicated than "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" ever works.”

“Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes current all over the world.”

“Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants – but debt is the money of slaves.”

“The dollar bill is above many other currencies. In other words, paper is more valuable than silver and gold.”

“Gold and silver are constituted, by the nature of things, money, and universal money, independent of all convention, and of all laws.”

“Silver is sometimes more valuable than gold, that is, in large quantities.”

“And silver, though few people knew it, was a rarer metal than gold.”

“It has therefore been justly observed that however honestly the coin of a country may conform to its standard, money made of gold and silver is still liable to fluctuations in value, not only to accidental, and temporary, but to permanent and natural variations, in the same manner as other commodities.”

“Thus money is almost always something hovering between a commodity and a debt-token. This is probably why coins—pieces of silver or gold that are already valuable commodities in themselves, but that, being stamped with the emblem of local authority, became even more valuable—still sit in our heads as the quintessential form of money. They most perfectly straddle the divide that defines what money is in the first place. What's more, the relation between the two was a matter of constant political conversation. In other words, the battle between state and market, between governments and merchants is not inherent to the human condition.”