This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

During the Civil War Congress passed the Legal Tender Act of 1862. Those acts created what were called Greenbacks, paper money. Those Greenbacks were declared by Congress to be legal tender for all debts both public and private and debts already in existence. The parties in these two suits are claiming that the Acts are unconstitutional in that Congress only had the express power to coin and thus by implication it had no power to create paper money and declare it legal tender. They also claimed that making paper money legal tender was a taking under the Fifth Amendment. The lower courts disagreed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.

The legal issues presented in this case will be displayed here.

The court's holding and decision will be displayed here.

Legal analysis from Dean's Law Dictionary will be displayed here.