It is true that in the Constitution there are no words expressly conferring upon Congress the power to make Treasury notes a legal tender; but there are no words expressly conferring upon Congress the power to issue Treasury notes. If we consult the text, we find it as silent with regard to one as with regard to the other. There is no silence with regard to the States, which are expressly prohibited to “emit bills of credit,” or “make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.” Treasury notes are “bills of credit”; and this prohibition is imperative on the States. The inference is just, that this prohibition, expressly addressed to the States, was not intended to embrace Congress indirectly, as it obviously does not embrace it directly. The presence of the prohibition, however, shows that the subject was in the minds of the framers of the Constitution. If they failed to extend it still further, it is reasonable to conclude that they left the whole subject in all its bearings to the sound discretion of Congress, under the ample powers intrusted to it. The stress so constantly put upon the prohibitions addressed to the States will justify me in introducing the opinion of Mr. Justice Story, in his Commentaries. “It is manifest that all these prohibitory clauses, as to coining money, emitting bills of credit, and tendering anything but gold and silver in payment of debts, are founded upon the same general policy, and result from the same general considerations. _The policy is, to provide a fixed and uniform value throughout the United States_, by which commercial and other dealings of the citizens, as well as the moneyed transactions of the Government, might be regulated.”[169] Plainly, no inference adverse to the powers of the National Government can be drawn from these prohibitory clauses; for, whatever may be these powers, there will be a fixed and uniform value throughout the United States.