On February 18, 1836, Francis Hopkinson, Clerk of the District and Circuit Courts of the United States of America for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, appeared before John Swift, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and on his oath said he was acquainted with the signatures of both Jackson and Forsyth and was satisfied they were their own and proper signatures. The neighborhood of the old mint is rich in traditions regarding it, and it may happen that when the buildings are torn down some of them will be substantiated. During the War of 1812 Dr. R. M. Patterson, Adam Eckfelt and Joseph Cloud, respectively director of the mint, chief coiner, melter and refiner, were engaged at the Breast Works at Grays Ferry, and, as these gentlemen were the chief employees of the mint at the time, it is highly probable there was considerable alarm over the safety of the mint. Among other traditions is one that the bullion, planchets and coins were walled up and buried during this scare. The actions of the British at Washington showed their tendency towards destruction of government property. An old lady living in West Philadelphia has the original appointment of her ancestor, Joseph Cloud, to his position in the mint, signed by Washington. She would not even allow it to be photographed for fear something might happen to it while in the photographer’s hands. Biddle’s Directory of 1791 gives the address of Michael Shubart, distiller, as 29 North Seventh Street; Hardie’s 1793 directory gives the mint at 29 North Seventh Street, which indicates that a change of numbers in the mint property has been made since that time. Shubart was a prominent Philadelphian; during the Revolution he was a city assessor, and on one occasion took an unconditional oath while his colleagues made a reservation. In the elaborate pageant of July 4, 1788, he bore the Standard at the head of the distillery section, followed by other notables engaged in that business. Daniel Roberdeau, mentioned elsewhere as an owner of part of the mint grounds, at one time was a brigadier-general of militia, and his name appears frequently in the Revolutionary Annals of Philadelphia as a man of pronounced ideas and stern character. The beginning of the mint establishment may be traced back to the articles of Confederation, dated July 9, 1778, which contained the following: “The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority or by that of the respective States.” The Constitution of the United States, September 17, 1787, contains in Article I, Section 8: “The Congress shall have power to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coins”; and further, “No State shall coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.” Analysis of the above will show the reason why the various States discontinued their own coinage.