Sec.5.  A bankrupt is an insolvent debtor; that is, a person who is unable to pay all his just debts.  A bankrupt law is a law which, upon an insolvent’s giving up all his property to his creditors, discharges him from the payment of his debts.  Such laws are designed for the benefit of honest and unfortunate debtors, who, by having the enjoyment of their future earnings secured to them, are encouraged to engage anew in industrial pursuits.  But these laws, intended for the benefit of the unfortunate poor, have enabled dishonest and fraudulent debtors to procure a release from their debts.

Sec.6.  Experience had shown the propriety of intrusting to congress the power to make these laws.  The dissimilar and conflicting laws of the different states, and the entire want of them in others, had caused great inconvenience.  A debtor, though discharged from debt by the laws of one state, was liable to be prosecuted on removing into another state.  Important as such laws were deemed, there is no existing law on the subject.  A bankrupt law was passed in April, 1800, and repealed in December, 1803.  Another was passed in 1841, which was of still shorter duration.

Sec.7.  The next power mentioned is the power “to coin money and regulate the value thereof.”  As a consequence of giving this power to Congress, we have a uniform currency throughout the union.  We have also, instead of the awkward system of reckoning by pounds, shillings, and pence, the more convenient decimal mode of calculation by dollars and cents.  The old system was rendered the more inconvenient by the difference in the value of a pound, shilling, and penny in the different states.  A merchant in a New England state, buying goods in New York or Philadelphia, must, in order to put prices upon them, reduce the currency of the state in which he bought them to New England currency.  Thus, the cost of an article being in New York two shillings and four pence a pound, would be in Connecticut one shilling and nine pence.  One shilling and six pence in New York would be in any New England state one shilling and a penny and a half.

Sec.8.  The place where money is coined is called mint.  The principal mint in the United States, and the first that was established in this country, is at Philadelphia.  The business of coining is under the superintendence of a director.  Under him are a treasurer, an assayer, a chief coiner, an engraver, and a melter and refiner.  The gold and silver, before it is coined, is called bullion.  There is a branch mint in New Orleans, one at Charlotte, in North Carolina, one at Dahlonega, in Georgia, one in California, and one in the city of New York.  At the place last mentioned, gold is assayed, but not coined.

Sec.9.  The clause containing the power last quoted, gives power also to “fix the standard of weights and measures.”  For the convenience of trade between the states, the standard of weights and measures should be the same in all the states.  Without such uniformity, commerce among the states would meet with embarrassments scarcely less than those experienced from the want of a uniform currency.  To effect the desired object, this power was given to congress.