The only important part of this provision is that which says that "the congress shall have power to coin money, [and] regulate the value thereof." That part about regulating the value of foreign coins--if any one can tell how congress can regulate it--is of no appreciable importance to anybody; for the coins will circulate, or not, as men may, or may not, choose to buy and sell them as money, and at such value as they will bear in free and open market,--that is, in competition with all other coins, and all other money. This is their only true and natural market value; and there is no occasion for congress to do anything in regard to them. The only thing, therefore, that we need to look at, is simply the power of congress "to coin money." So far as congress itself is authorized to coin money, this is simply a power to weigh and assay metals,--gold, silver, or any other,--stamp upon them marks indicating their weight and fineness, and then sell them to whomsoever may choose to buy them; and let them go in the market for whatever they may chance to bring, in competition with all other money that may chance to be offered there. It is no power to impose any restrictions whatever upon any or all other honest money, that may be offered in the market, and bought and sold in competition with the coins weighed and assayed by the government. The power itself is a frivolous one, of little or no utility; for the weighing and assaying of metals is a thing so easily done, and can be done by so many different persons, that there is certainly no _necessity_ for its being done at all by a government. And it would undoubtedly have been far better if all coins--whether coined by governments or individuals--had all been made into pieces bearing simply the names of pounds, ounces, pennyweights, etc., and containing just the amounts of pure metal described by those weights. The coins would then have been regarded as only so much metal; and as having only the same value as the same amount of metal in any other form. Men would then have known exactly how much of certain metals they were buying, selling, and promising to pay. And all the jugglery, cheating, and robbery that governments have practised, and licensed individuals to practise--by coining pieces bearing the same names, but having different amounts of metal--would have been avoided. And all excuses for establishing monopolies of money, by prohibiting all other money than the coins, would also have been avoided. As it is, the constitution imposes no prohibition upon the coining of money by individuals, but only by State governments. Individuals are left perfectly free to coin it, except that they must not "_counterfeit_ the securities and current coin of the United States."