"The convention of the states for the reform of the confederacy organized itself by electing as its president George Washington, who of all the public men in his day was the most decided in his convictions and the most outspoken in his words on the inherent dishonesty of irredeemable paper bills. "Virginia took the lead, and Randolph, its governor, in his opening speech drew attention to paper money by reminding its hearers that the patriotic authors of the confederation did their work 'in the infancy of the science of constitutions and of confederacies, when the havoc of paper money had not been foreseen.' "Among the delegates from Connecticut were Oliver Ellsworth, who in the Federal Congress had repeatedly served on committees for the reform of the federal constitution, and Roger Sherman, who, in 1752, had published his conviction that good laws and poor money are irreconcilable. They agreed to insist in the convention 'that the legislatures of the individual states ought not to possess a right to emit bills of credit for a currency, or in any manner to obstruct the recovery of debts, whereby the interests of foreigners or the citizens of any other state may be affected.' "The refusal of the convention to confer on the legislature of the United States the power to emit bills of credit or irredeemable paper money in any form is so complete that, according to all rules by which public documents are interpreted, it should not be treated as questionable; but as the truth in this case is of infinite importance, and has been questioned by those in authority, the wrong done to the Constitution may justify a simple narrative of the facts, which ample and indisputable records establish, and which no power can alter. "The journal of the convention for framing the Constitution was kept under the supervision of its members, and its authority is vouched for by Washington, not only as the presiding officer of the convention, but as President of the United States in a special message to Congress. "By a clause in the ninth article of confederation of the United States of America, and only by that clause, the confederated states had authority 'to emit bills on the credit of the United States.' "Of the legislature of the United States, under our present constitution, the court insists that 'Congress is clearly authorized to emit Bills of Credit.' But is it so?