Letter sent to Secretary of State
Posted: January 18th, 2008, 4:31 am
Dollar Issue Continues to Rage. Letter sent to Secretary of State
Friday, January 18th 2008 — Christopher Hansen
Secretary of State Miller
Attorney General Masto
Matt Griffin, Deputy in charge of the Elections
Dear Matt Griffin,
I am writing to you as the State Chairman of the Independent American Party of Nevada.
I have an email forwarded to me from Independent American Party member and former candidate Bret Ogilvie from you. It states:
“The Secretary of State’s Office has no authority to assign a legal value to United States currency. As such, and for the purposes of campaign finance in the State of Nevada, a dollar is a dollar as that term is defined by the United States Government. In the situation we discussed over the phone, a silver dollar minted in any year by the United States Government has the value of a dollar. I hope this information is of help.”
As the State Chairman and as a concerned Citizen I have been in search of the definition of the dollar as defined by the United States Government for years. I have just recently had a bit of success. I received a letter from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank at the request of Senator John Ensign. It is very similar to the letter you received from them that was addressed to Bret Ogilvie. Naturally the Federal Reserve Bank is not the United States Government nor is it a branch or agency of the government but only a quasi-government entity. The letter from the Board of Governors did not give a legal definition of what a dollar is so I continued my search. I wrote to many Federal officials and agencies including Senator John Ensign in an attempt to find out what the “term” dollar is as “defined by the United States Government.” To date, only Senator Ensign has given me any kind of an answer. His office sent me the attached letter.
I also received a letter that had been used as evidence in a recent Federal Criminal trial in Las Vegas. That letter is also attached.
Then I contacted Nevada Assemblyman Bob Beers from district 21 and he sent me a very clear definition of what a Federal reserve note is but he informed me that there was currently no definition of the word dollar.
My research has confirmed that Assemblyman Beers is correct.
Since Matt Griffin stated: “[F]or the purposes of campaign finance in the State of Nevada, a dollar is a dollar as that term is defined by the United States Government.”
I have included two federal sources that state that Federal reserve notes are not dollars. I have included the letter from the ONLY State elected official or even appointed employee of the State that would give what could be considered even the semblance of an answer to this question. Your office has refused to give us the definition of the word dollar as “defined by the United States Government.”
Blacks Law 7th addition does not even have a definition of the word dollar.
We have been informed by the governor’s office (See attached letter) that the Legislative Counsel Bureau could get us some answers. They could not (See attached letter from the LCB.) The information given to us by the LCB when combined with the letters from Assemblyman Beers and Senator Ensign show that Federal reserve notes are not dollars.
Therefore, since you have not given us the definition for the “term” “dollar” and you have informed us that “[F]or the purposes of campaign finance in the State of Nevada, a dollar is a dollar as that term is defined by the United States Government” we will have to rely upon the sources we have been able to contact that have attempted to define the term dollar by tell us what it is not, and that is a Federal reserve note.
I, and many other Independent Americans, will be relying upon Senator Ensign’s letter, the letter from the Department of the Treasury and Assemblyman Bob Beers letter with their definitions unless and until we receive evidence that the dollar has some OTHER definition “as that term is defined by the United States Government,” in a manner proscribed by the Constitution of the United States of America, as there can be no other manner allowable by law unless it is so authorized by said Constitution.
From these three letters one thing is very clear. Federal reserve notes are not dollars.
The letter from the Treasury Department states:
“Federal Reserve notes are not dollars.”
Assemblyman Beers’ letter states:
“No statute defines - or ever has defined - the ‘one dollar’ Federal Reserve Note ‘FRN’ as the ‘dollar,’ or even as a species of ‘dollar.’”
And Senator Ensign’s office’s letter states, as it is quoted from Ballentines Law Dictionary, 3rd Edition (1969) and then repeated as a quote from American Jurisprudence, Volume 36, A§ 8. Promissory notes cannot be “dollars” and Federal reserve notes are “effectively non-interest-bearing promissory notes…” (See page three of Senator Ensign’s letter on page two of the definition section.) As stated in the letter in the section provided to the Senator from the Congressional Research Service:
American Jurisprudence, Volume 36, A§ 8 [T]he term “dollar” means money, since it is the unit of money in this country, and in the absence of qualifying words, it cannot mean promissory notes or bonds or other evidences of debt. The term also refers to specific coins of the value of one dollar. (27 Ohio Jur pp . 125, 126, A§ 3), (United States v. Van Auken, 96 US 366, 24 L ed 852) (Emphasis Added)
Black’s Law, Second Pocket Edition (1996)
Federal reserve note. The paper currency in circulation in the United States. The notes are issued by the Federal Reserve Banks, are effectively non-interest-bearing promissory notes payable to bearer on demand, and are issued in denominations of $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000. (Emphasis Added)
These definitions supplied to us by government officials and employees and the Congressional Research Service are ALL WE HAVE TO RELY UPON from the Government of the United States and Nevada. Therefore unless you supply us with some other legally binding definition as regulated by Congress, of the “term dollar”, then we have nothing else to currently rely upon when and if we file any State of Nevada Election forms or any form from the State of Nevada that includes the “term dollar.”
If the State of Nevada or any of its subsidiaries want to make something other than gold and silver as payment that is their decision as we have no authority to force the State of Nevada to follow the Constitution as written but can only hope and pray that it does.
We will rely upon your silence in this matter, if you do not assist us in finding the clear and unequivocal definition of the word dollar as “defined by the United States Government,” to mean that you accept the definitions supplied to us in the attached letters. We remind you that:
“Silence can only be equated with fraud where there is a legal or moral duty to speak or where an inquiry left unanswered would be intentionally misleading.” U.S. v. Prudden, 424 F.2d 1021, 1032, C.A.Fla. 1970. (See also U.S. v. Tweel, 550 F.2d 297, C.A.Fla. 1977.)
We have done our due diligence in trying to find the exact congressional created legal definition of the word or term dollar. We have asked your office for it many times. You have finally informed us, Independent Americans, that you cannot define the word or term and that “for the purposes of campaign finance in the State of Nevada, a dollar is a dollar as that term is defined by the United States Government” and yet did not supply the definition upon which you rely that came from the United States Government. It is obvious that you have no such definition as none exist if Assembly Bob Beers is correct.
We have asked representatives of the office of the Nevada Attorney General and been told that they cannot give us a definition. We have asked our legal counsel and been informed that no law defines what the value of a dollar is today or what a dollar is except that it is a monetary unit of measurement without further definition. We have been supplied by our legal counsel a letter from the Department of the Treasury (included as an attachment) stating that, “Federal Reserve notes are not dollars.” We have been informed by the Congressional Research Service by and through Senator John Ensign that a Federal reserve note is a promissory note and that promissory notes are not dollars. We have been informed by Assemblyman Beers that: “No statute defines - or ever has defined - the ‘one dollar’ Federal Reserve Note ‘FRN’ as the ‘dollar,’ or even as a species of ‘dollar.’”
According to the United States Supreme Court in Sabri v. U.S. 541 U.S. 600, *606, (2004) “Money is fungible…”
fun·gi·ble : being something (as money or a commodity) one part or quantity of which can be substituted for another of equal value in paying a debt or settling an account Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Therefore Federal reserve notes are not money because they are not equal to the gold or silver dollars being minted by law by the Federal Government. They are not “fungible.”
Payable on demand
Payable on demand is an interesting phrase that was used in Black’s Law, Second Pocket Edition (1996) as these Federal reserve promissory notes are indeed, according to law, to be redeemable in lawful money as per: 12 USC Sec. 411. Issuance to reserve banks; nature of obligation; redemption:
Federal reserve notes, to be issued at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for the purpose of making advances to Federal reserve banks through the Federal reserve agents as hereinafter set forth and for no other purpose, are authorized. The said notes shall be obligations of the United States and shall be receivable by all national and member banks and Federal reserve banks and for all taxes, customs, and other public dues. They shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand at the Treasury Department of
the United States, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, or at any Federal Reserve bank.
These Federal reserve notes are to issued, not as dollars, but “for the purpose of making advances to Federal reserve banks through the Federal reserve agents as hereinafter set forth and for no other purpose, are authorized.” They are to be “payable to bearer on demand” according to Black’s Law, Second Pocket Edition (1996) (above). The law says they are to be payable in “lawful money.” Lawful money appears, currently, to be as undefined as the word “dollar.” But we do know from Senator Ensign’s letter by reference from American Jurisprudence, Volume 36, A§ 8 “[T]he term “dollar” means money…” and “cannot mean promissory notes…” The problem is that if you try to redeem a Federal reserve note from “the Treasury Department of the United States, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, or at any Federal Reserve bank” that all you will receive is another “effectively non-interest-bearing promissory note” which cannot mean a dollar. Since they are, therefore, non-redeemable promissory notes that cannot be redeemed in “lawful money” but only in more non-redeemable promissory notes they have no value any more than a coupon issued by a private grocery store that says it is redeemable in a chicken has value if all you can get for it is another coupon saying it is redeemable in a chicken. They are, therefore, worthless in fact we learn from Assemblyman Beers’ letter that Federal reserve notes are no “lawful money”:
“[T]he United States Code provides that FRNs ‘shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand at the Treasury Department of the United States… or at any Federal Reserve bank.’ Thus, FRNs are not themselves ‘lawful money - otherwise, they would not be ‘redeemable in lawful money.’”
Please note that we currently only have these letters and the research forwarded to us from the Congressional Research Service, to rely upon concerning the definition of the word dollar, as we can find no other definition from the “Government of the United States.” Your office has informed our membership that it cannot define the word or term “dollar” (see above). Therefore we have nothing else to rely upon except these letters and we have no reason to dispute them.
One thing is sure, if we can rely upon these letters, and we have nothing else to rely upon from Congress of the “United States Government” to date; and only Congress according to the Constitution has the authority to “regulate the value” of money; and that obviously Federal reserve notes ARE NOT DOLLARS and cannot be redeemed in “money” or dollars” but only in more promissory notes; they are in effect worthless, having no more value than counterfeit currency or a non-redeemable I.O.U. It appears the world has also discovered this fact and that is why the Federal reserve note becoming less and less acceptable by more and more nations. After all what good is a non-redeemable promissory note?
I also found this on page two/page one of the definition section of Senator Ensign’s letter:
Blacks Law Dictionary, 4th Edition (1951)
DOLLAR. The unit employed in the United States in calculating money values. It is coined both in gold and silver, and is of the value of one hundred cents.
People v. Alba 46 Cal .App .2d 859, 117 P .2d 63 . Money or currency issued by lawful authority and intended to pass and circulated as such. Neufield v. United States, 118 f,2d 375, 387, 73 App .D .C . 174. The dollar of nine-tenths fine consisting of the weight determined under the 31 U.S.C.A. A§ 321, shall be the standard unit of value, and all forms of money issued or coined shall be maintained at a parity of value with this standard. 31 U.S.C.A. A§ 314. (Emphasis Added)
That definition is VERY clear as to what the value of a dollar is. “The dollar of nine-tenths fine consisting of the weight determined under the 31 U.S.C.A. A§ 321, shall be the standard unit of value, and all forms of money issued or coined shall be maintained at a parity of value with this standard.
The only problem is that 31 U.S.C.A. A§ 314 is no longer the law. It was not replaced by a law that includes a standard unit of value that shall be maintained at a parity of value. In other words we have a system of unequal weights and measures which is an abomination to God according to the Bible.
Market Value Defined by What?
In 31 USC, sec. 5151 we find that the words “buying rate” are substituted for “market buying rate for such cable transfers” to eliminate unnecessary words. The term “Market Value” are not found in 31 USC.
There currently is no law which states that Silver Liberty Dollars Coins are to be judge as concerning their “value” by anything other than the “value” placed upon them by statue.
31 USC, sec. 5112
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall mint and issue, in quantities sufficient to meet public demand, coins which -
(1) are 40.6 millimeters in diameter and weigh 31.103 grams;
(2) contain .999 fine silver;
(3) have a design -
(A) symbolic of Liberty on the obverse side; and
(B) of an eagle on the reverse side;
(4) have inscriptions of the year of minting or issuance, and the words “Liberty”, “In God We Trust”, “United States of America”, “1 Oz. Fine Silver”, “E Pluribus Unum”, and “One Dollar”; and
(5) have reeded edges.
We could find no law that establishes the market value or any other value for United States coins of any type as per:
31 USC, sec. 5112
(a) The Secretary of the Treasury may mint and issue only the following coins:
(1) a dollar coin that is 1.043 inches in diameter.
(2) a half dollar coin that is 1.205 inches in diameter and weighs 11.34 grams.
(3) a quarter dollar coin that is 0.955 inch in diameter and weighs 5.67 grams.
(4) a dime coin that is 0.705 inch in diameter and weighs 2.268 grams.
(5) a 5-cent coin that is 0.835 inch in diameter and weighs 5 grams.
(6) except as provided under subsection (c) of this section, a one-cent coin that is 0.75 inch in diameter and weighs 3.11 grams.
(7) A fifty dollar gold coin that is 32.7 millimeters in diameter, weighs 33.931 grams, and contains one troy ounce of fine gold.
(8) A twenty-five dollar gold coin that is 27.0 millimeters in diameter, weighs 16.966 grams, and contains one-half troy ounce of fine gold.
(9) A ten dollar gold coin that is 22.0 millimeters in diameter, weighs 8.483 grams, and contains one-fourth troy ounce of fine gold.
(10) A five dollar gold coin that is 16.5 millimeters in diameter, weighs 3.393 grams, and contains one-tenth troy ounce of fine gold.
(11) A $50 gold coin that is of an appropriate size and thickness, as determined by the Secretary, weighs 1 ounce, and contains 99.99 percent pure gold.
As far as “market value” is concerned it is obvious that this is to be judged, not in Federal reserve notes, but by the “average world price” which could be judged in any form of “legal tender”, coin or currency from any nation including but not limited to its price in Silver liberty dollars minted under section 5112 (e).
31 USC Sec. 5116. Buying and selling gold and silver
(3) The Secretary shall acquire gold for the coins issued under section 5112(i) of this title by purchase of gold mined from natural deposits in the United States, or in a territory or possession of the United States, within one year after the month in which the ore from which it is derived was mined. The Secretary shall pay not more than the average world price for the gold. In the absence of available supplies of such gold at the average world price, the Secretary may use gold from reserves held by the United States to mint the coins issued under section 5112(i) of this title. The Secretary shall issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this paragraph.
Sec. 3123. Payment of obligations and interest on the public debt
(a)The faith of the United States Government is pledged to pay, in legal tender, principal and interest on the obligations of the Government issued under this chapter.
(b)The Secretary of the Treasury shall pay interest due or accrued on the public debt. As the Secretary considers expedient, the Secretary may pay in advance interest on the public debt by a period of not more than one year, with or without a rebate of interest on the coupons.
(c)(1) The Secretary may issue a bond, note, or certificate of indebtedness authorized under this chapter whose principal and interest are payable in a foreign currency stated in the bond, note, or certificate. The Secretary may dispose of the bonds, notes, and certificates at a price that is at least par value without complying with section 3102(b)-(d) of this title.
(2) In determining the dollar amount of bonds, notes, and certificates of indebtedness that may be issued under this chapter, the dollar equivalent of the amount of bonds, notes, and certificates payable in a foreign currency is determined by the par of the exchange value on the date of issue of the bonds, notes, or certificates as published by the Secretary under section 5151 of this title.
31 USC Sec. 5151. Conversion of currency of foreign countries
(a)In this section –
(1) “buying rate” means the buying rate in the market in New York, New York, for cable transfers payable in the currency of a foreign country to be converted.
(2) when merchandise is exported on a day that banks are generally closed in New York, the buying rate at noon on the last prior business day is deemed to be the buying rate at noon on the day the merchandise is exported.
(b) The value of coins of a foreign country expressed in United States money is the value of the pure metal of the standard coin of the foreign country. The Secretary of the Treasury shall estimate the values of standard coins of the country quarterly and publish the values on the first day of January, April, July, and October of each year.
(c) Except as provided in this section, conversion of currency of a foreign country into United States currency for assessment and collection of duties on merchandise imported into the United States shall be made at values published by the Secretary under subsection (b) of this section for the quarter in which the merchandise is exported.
(d) If the Secretary has not published a value for the quarter in which the merchandise is exported, or if the value published by the Secretary varies by at least 5 percent from a value measured by the buying rate at noon on the day the merchandise is exported, the conversion of the currency of the foreign country shall be made at a value -
(1) equal to the buying rate at noon on the day the merchandise is exported; or
(2) prescribed by regulation of the Secretary for the currency that is equal to the first buying rate certified for that currency by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York under subsection
(d)of this section in the quarter in which the merchandise is exported, but only if the buying rate at noon on the day the merchandise is exported varies less than 5 percent from the buying rate first certified.
(e) The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shall decide the buying rate and certify the rate to the Secretary. The Secretary shall publish the rate at times and to the extent the Secretary considers necessary. In deciding the buying rate, the Bank may -
(1) consider the last ascertainable transactions and quotations (direct or through exchange of other currencies); and
(2) if there is no buying rate, calculate the rate from -
(A) actual transactions and quotations in demand or time bills of exchange; or
(B) the last ascertainable transactions and quotations outside the United States in or for exchange payable in United States currency or foreign currency.
“The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.” - J. Edgar Hoover
The masses indulge in petty falsehoods every day, but it would never come into their head to fabricate colossal untruths….The bigger the lie, therefore, the likelier it is to be believed. - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kempf
CONCLUSIONS
1.The office of the Secretary of State cannot define the word dollar.
2.Federal reserve notes are unquestionably not dollars.
3.Candidates for office are to report contributions and expenditures in dollar amounts.
4.The definition of what a dollars is “appears to be undecided.”
5.Laws which cannot tell the person of average intelligence what they must or cannot do are void for vagueness.
6.We do not know what a dollar is as it is apparently undefined.
7.Since the word “dollar” is currently undefined by “The Government of the United States” and Federal reserve notes are not dollars (See letters from elected officials) we will, if required by law and that is yet to be determined, report what we received that has value (not evidences of debt as debt is not of value) but we will just report the item themselves (like a dozen eggs) since we have no monetary unit of measurement established by law by Congress with which to judge contributions or expenditures.
If there is such a law please notify us immediately so that we may know when that law was passed and what it requires or defines.
____________________________
Christopher Hansen, State Chairman
Friday, January 18th 2008 — Christopher Hansen
Secretary of State Miller
Attorney General Masto
Matt Griffin, Deputy in charge of the Elections
Dear Matt Griffin,
I am writing to you as the State Chairman of the Independent American Party of Nevada.
I have an email forwarded to me from Independent American Party member and former candidate Bret Ogilvie from you. It states:
“The Secretary of State’s Office has no authority to assign a legal value to United States currency. As such, and for the purposes of campaign finance in the State of Nevada, a dollar is a dollar as that term is defined by the United States Government. In the situation we discussed over the phone, a silver dollar minted in any year by the United States Government has the value of a dollar. I hope this information is of help.”
As the State Chairman and as a concerned Citizen I have been in search of the definition of the dollar as defined by the United States Government for years. I have just recently had a bit of success. I received a letter from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank at the request of Senator John Ensign. It is very similar to the letter you received from them that was addressed to Bret Ogilvie. Naturally the Federal Reserve Bank is not the United States Government nor is it a branch or agency of the government but only a quasi-government entity. The letter from the Board of Governors did not give a legal definition of what a dollar is so I continued my search. I wrote to many Federal officials and agencies including Senator John Ensign in an attempt to find out what the “term” dollar is as “defined by the United States Government.” To date, only Senator Ensign has given me any kind of an answer. His office sent me the attached letter.
I also received a letter that had been used as evidence in a recent Federal Criminal trial in Las Vegas. That letter is also attached.
Then I contacted Nevada Assemblyman Bob Beers from district 21 and he sent me a very clear definition of what a Federal reserve note is but he informed me that there was currently no definition of the word dollar.
My research has confirmed that Assemblyman Beers is correct.
Since Matt Griffin stated: “[F]or the purposes of campaign finance in the State of Nevada, a dollar is a dollar as that term is defined by the United States Government.”
I have included two federal sources that state that Federal reserve notes are not dollars. I have included the letter from the ONLY State elected official or even appointed employee of the State that would give what could be considered even the semblance of an answer to this question. Your office has refused to give us the definition of the word dollar as “defined by the United States Government.”
Blacks Law 7th addition does not even have a definition of the word dollar.
We have been informed by the governor’s office (See attached letter) that the Legislative Counsel Bureau could get us some answers. They could not (See attached letter from the LCB.) The information given to us by the LCB when combined with the letters from Assemblyman Beers and Senator Ensign show that Federal reserve notes are not dollars.
Therefore, since you have not given us the definition for the “term” “dollar” and you have informed us that “[F]or the purposes of campaign finance in the State of Nevada, a dollar is a dollar as that term is defined by the United States Government” we will have to rely upon the sources we have been able to contact that have attempted to define the term dollar by tell us what it is not, and that is a Federal reserve note.
I, and many other Independent Americans, will be relying upon Senator Ensign’s letter, the letter from the Department of the Treasury and Assemblyman Bob Beers letter with their definitions unless and until we receive evidence that the dollar has some OTHER definition “as that term is defined by the United States Government,” in a manner proscribed by the Constitution of the United States of America, as there can be no other manner allowable by law unless it is so authorized by said Constitution.
From these three letters one thing is very clear. Federal reserve notes are not dollars.
The letter from the Treasury Department states:
“Federal Reserve notes are not dollars.”
Assemblyman Beers’ letter states:
“No statute defines - or ever has defined - the ‘one dollar’ Federal Reserve Note ‘FRN’ as the ‘dollar,’ or even as a species of ‘dollar.’”
And Senator Ensign’s office’s letter states, as it is quoted from Ballentines Law Dictionary, 3rd Edition (1969) and then repeated as a quote from American Jurisprudence, Volume 36, A§ 8. Promissory notes cannot be “dollars” and Federal reserve notes are “effectively non-interest-bearing promissory notes…” (See page three of Senator Ensign’s letter on page two of the definition section.) As stated in the letter in the section provided to the Senator from the Congressional Research Service:
American Jurisprudence, Volume 36, A§ 8 [T]he term “dollar” means money, since it is the unit of money in this country, and in the absence of qualifying words, it cannot mean promissory notes or bonds or other evidences of debt. The term also refers to specific coins of the value of one dollar. (27 Ohio Jur pp . 125, 126, A§ 3), (United States v. Van Auken, 96 US 366, 24 L ed 852) (Emphasis Added)
Black’s Law, Second Pocket Edition (1996)
Federal reserve note. The paper currency in circulation in the United States. The notes are issued by the Federal Reserve Banks, are effectively non-interest-bearing promissory notes payable to bearer on demand, and are issued in denominations of $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000. (Emphasis Added)
These definitions supplied to us by government officials and employees and the Congressional Research Service are ALL WE HAVE TO RELY UPON from the Government of the United States and Nevada. Therefore unless you supply us with some other legally binding definition as regulated by Congress, of the “term dollar”, then we have nothing else to currently rely upon when and if we file any State of Nevada Election forms or any form from the State of Nevada that includes the “term dollar.”
If the State of Nevada or any of its subsidiaries want to make something other than gold and silver as payment that is their decision as we have no authority to force the State of Nevada to follow the Constitution as written but can only hope and pray that it does.
We will rely upon your silence in this matter, if you do not assist us in finding the clear and unequivocal definition of the word dollar as “defined by the United States Government,” to mean that you accept the definitions supplied to us in the attached letters. We remind you that:
“Silence can only be equated with fraud where there is a legal or moral duty to speak or where an inquiry left unanswered would be intentionally misleading.” U.S. v. Prudden, 424 F.2d 1021, 1032, C.A.Fla. 1970. (See also U.S. v. Tweel, 550 F.2d 297, C.A.Fla. 1977.)
We have done our due diligence in trying to find the exact congressional created legal definition of the word or term dollar. We have asked your office for it many times. You have finally informed us, Independent Americans, that you cannot define the word or term and that “for the purposes of campaign finance in the State of Nevada, a dollar is a dollar as that term is defined by the United States Government” and yet did not supply the definition upon which you rely that came from the United States Government. It is obvious that you have no such definition as none exist if Assembly Bob Beers is correct.
We have asked representatives of the office of the Nevada Attorney General and been told that they cannot give us a definition. We have asked our legal counsel and been informed that no law defines what the value of a dollar is today or what a dollar is except that it is a monetary unit of measurement without further definition. We have been supplied by our legal counsel a letter from the Department of the Treasury (included as an attachment) stating that, “Federal Reserve notes are not dollars.” We have been informed by the Congressional Research Service by and through Senator John Ensign that a Federal reserve note is a promissory note and that promissory notes are not dollars. We have been informed by Assemblyman Beers that: “No statute defines - or ever has defined - the ‘one dollar’ Federal Reserve Note ‘FRN’ as the ‘dollar,’ or even as a species of ‘dollar.’”
According to the United States Supreme Court in Sabri v. U.S. 541 U.S. 600, *606, (2004) “Money is fungible…”
fun·gi·ble : being something (as money or a commodity) one part or quantity of which can be substituted for another of equal value in paying a debt or settling an account Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Therefore Federal reserve notes are not money because they are not equal to the gold or silver dollars being minted by law by the Federal Government. They are not “fungible.”
Payable on demand
Payable on demand is an interesting phrase that was used in Black’s Law, Second Pocket Edition (1996) as these Federal reserve promissory notes are indeed, according to law, to be redeemable in lawful money as per: 12 USC Sec. 411. Issuance to reserve banks; nature of obligation; redemption:
Federal reserve notes, to be issued at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for the purpose of making advances to Federal reserve banks through the Federal reserve agents as hereinafter set forth and for no other purpose, are authorized. The said notes shall be obligations of the United States and shall be receivable by all national and member banks and Federal reserve banks and for all taxes, customs, and other public dues. They shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand at the Treasury Department of
the United States, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, or at any Federal Reserve bank.
These Federal reserve notes are to issued, not as dollars, but “for the purpose of making advances to Federal reserve banks through the Federal reserve agents as hereinafter set forth and for no other purpose, are authorized.” They are to be “payable to bearer on demand” according to Black’s Law, Second Pocket Edition (1996) (above). The law says they are to be payable in “lawful money.” Lawful money appears, currently, to be as undefined as the word “dollar.” But we do know from Senator Ensign’s letter by reference from American Jurisprudence, Volume 36, A§ 8 “[T]he term “dollar” means money…” and “cannot mean promissory notes…” The problem is that if you try to redeem a Federal reserve note from “the Treasury Department of the United States, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, or at any Federal Reserve bank” that all you will receive is another “effectively non-interest-bearing promissory note” which cannot mean a dollar. Since they are, therefore, non-redeemable promissory notes that cannot be redeemed in “lawful money” but only in more non-redeemable promissory notes they have no value any more than a coupon issued by a private grocery store that says it is redeemable in a chicken has value if all you can get for it is another coupon saying it is redeemable in a chicken. They are, therefore, worthless in fact we learn from Assemblyman Beers’ letter that Federal reserve notes are no “lawful money”:
“[T]he United States Code provides that FRNs ‘shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand at the Treasury Department of the United States… or at any Federal Reserve bank.’ Thus, FRNs are not themselves ‘lawful money - otherwise, they would not be ‘redeemable in lawful money.’”
Please note that we currently only have these letters and the research forwarded to us from the Congressional Research Service, to rely upon concerning the definition of the word dollar, as we can find no other definition from the “Government of the United States.” Your office has informed our membership that it cannot define the word or term “dollar” (see above). Therefore we have nothing else to rely upon except these letters and we have no reason to dispute them.
One thing is sure, if we can rely upon these letters, and we have nothing else to rely upon from Congress of the “United States Government” to date; and only Congress according to the Constitution has the authority to “regulate the value” of money; and that obviously Federal reserve notes ARE NOT DOLLARS and cannot be redeemed in “money” or dollars” but only in more promissory notes; they are in effect worthless, having no more value than counterfeit currency or a non-redeemable I.O.U. It appears the world has also discovered this fact and that is why the Federal reserve note becoming less and less acceptable by more and more nations. After all what good is a non-redeemable promissory note?
I also found this on page two/page one of the definition section of Senator Ensign’s letter:
Blacks Law Dictionary, 4th Edition (1951)
DOLLAR. The unit employed in the United States in calculating money values. It is coined both in gold and silver, and is of the value of one hundred cents.
People v. Alba 46 Cal .App .2d 859, 117 P .2d 63 . Money or currency issued by lawful authority and intended to pass and circulated as such. Neufield v. United States, 118 f,2d 375, 387, 73 App .D .C . 174. The dollar of nine-tenths fine consisting of the weight determined under the 31 U.S.C.A. A§ 321, shall be the standard unit of value, and all forms of money issued or coined shall be maintained at a parity of value with this standard. 31 U.S.C.A. A§ 314. (Emphasis Added)
That definition is VERY clear as to what the value of a dollar is. “The dollar of nine-tenths fine consisting of the weight determined under the 31 U.S.C.A. A§ 321, shall be the standard unit of value, and all forms of money issued or coined shall be maintained at a parity of value with this standard.
The only problem is that 31 U.S.C.A. A§ 314 is no longer the law. It was not replaced by a law that includes a standard unit of value that shall be maintained at a parity of value. In other words we have a system of unequal weights and measures which is an abomination to God according to the Bible.
Market Value Defined by What?
In 31 USC, sec. 5151 we find that the words “buying rate” are substituted for “market buying rate for such cable transfers” to eliminate unnecessary words. The term “Market Value” are not found in 31 USC.
There currently is no law which states that Silver Liberty Dollars Coins are to be judge as concerning their “value” by anything other than the “value” placed upon them by statue.
31 USC, sec. 5112
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall mint and issue, in quantities sufficient to meet public demand, coins which -
(1) are 40.6 millimeters in diameter and weigh 31.103 grams;
(2) contain .999 fine silver;
(3) have a design -
(A) symbolic of Liberty on the obverse side; and
(B) of an eagle on the reverse side;
(4) have inscriptions of the year of minting or issuance, and the words “Liberty”, “In God We Trust”, “United States of America”, “1 Oz. Fine Silver”, “E Pluribus Unum”, and “One Dollar”; and
(5) have reeded edges.
We could find no law that establishes the market value or any other value for United States coins of any type as per:
31 USC, sec. 5112
(a) The Secretary of the Treasury may mint and issue only the following coins:
(1) a dollar coin that is 1.043 inches in diameter.
(2) a half dollar coin that is 1.205 inches in diameter and weighs 11.34 grams.
(3) a quarter dollar coin that is 0.955 inch in diameter and weighs 5.67 grams.
(4) a dime coin that is 0.705 inch in diameter and weighs 2.268 grams.
(5) a 5-cent coin that is 0.835 inch in diameter and weighs 5 grams.
(6) except as provided under subsection (c) of this section, a one-cent coin that is 0.75 inch in diameter and weighs 3.11 grams.
(7) A fifty dollar gold coin that is 32.7 millimeters in diameter, weighs 33.931 grams, and contains one troy ounce of fine gold.
(8) A twenty-five dollar gold coin that is 27.0 millimeters in diameter, weighs 16.966 grams, and contains one-half troy ounce of fine gold.
(9) A ten dollar gold coin that is 22.0 millimeters in diameter, weighs 8.483 grams, and contains one-fourth troy ounce of fine gold.
(10) A five dollar gold coin that is 16.5 millimeters in diameter, weighs 3.393 grams, and contains one-tenth troy ounce of fine gold.
(11) A $50 gold coin that is of an appropriate size and thickness, as determined by the Secretary, weighs 1 ounce, and contains 99.99 percent pure gold.
As far as “market value” is concerned it is obvious that this is to be judged, not in Federal reserve notes, but by the “average world price” which could be judged in any form of “legal tender”, coin or currency from any nation including but not limited to its price in Silver liberty dollars minted under section 5112 (e).
31 USC Sec. 5116. Buying and selling gold and silver
(3) The Secretary shall acquire gold for the coins issued under section 5112(i) of this title by purchase of gold mined from natural deposits in the United States, or in a territory or possession of the United States, within one year after the month in which the ore from which it is derived was mined. The Secretary shall pay not more than the average world price for the gold. In the absence of available supplies of such gold at the average world price, the Secretary may use gold from reserves held by the United States to mint the coins issued under section 5112(i) of this title. The Secretary shall issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this paragraph.
Sec. 3123. Payment of obligations and interest on the public debt
(a)The faith of the United States Government is pledged to pay, in legal tender, principal and interest on the obligations of the Government issued under this chapter.
(b)The Secretary of the Treasury shall pay interest due or accrued on the public debt. As the Secretary considers expedient, the Secretary may pay in advance interest on the public debt by a period of not more than one year, with or without a rebate of interest on the coupons.
(c)(1) The Secretary may issue a bond, note, or certificate of indebtedness authorized under this chapter whose principal and interest are payable in a foreign currency stated in the bond, note, or certificate. The Secretary may dispose of the bonds, notes, and certificates at a price that is at least par value without complying with section 3102(b)-(d) of this title.
(2) In determining the dollar amount of bonds, notes, and certificates of indebtedness that may be issued under this chapter, the dollar equivalent of the amount of bonds, notes, and certificates payable in a foreign currency is determined by the par of the exchange value on the date of issue of the bonds, notes, or certificates as published by the Secretary under section 5151 of this title.
31 USC Sec. 5151. Conversion of currency of foreign countries
(a)In this section –
(1) “buying rate” means the buying rate in the market in New York, New York, for cable transfers payable in the currency of a foreign country to be converted.
(2) when merchandise is exported on a day that banks are generally closed in New York, the buying rate at noon on the last prior business day is deemed to be the buying rate at noon on the day the merchandise is exported.
(b) The value of coins of a foreign country expressed in United States money is the value of the pure metal of the standard coin of the foreign country. The Secretary of the Treasury shall estimate the values of standard coins of the country quarterly and publish the values on the first day of January, April, July, and October of each year.
(c) Except as provided in this section, conversion of currency of a foreign country into United States currency for assessment and collection of duties on merchandise imported into the United States shall be made at values published by the Secretary under subsection (b) of this section for the quarter in which the merchandise is exported.
(d) If the Secretary has not published a value for the quarter in which the merchandise is exported, or if the value published by the Secretary varies by at least 5 percent from a value measured by the buying rate at noon on the day the merchandise is exported, the conversion of the currency of the foreign country shall be made at a value -
(1) equal to the buying rate at noon on the day the merchandise is exported; or
(2) prescribed by regulation of the Secretary for the currency that is equal to the first buying rate certified for that currency by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York under subsection
(d)of this section in the quarter in which the merchandise is exported, but only if the buying rate at noon on the day the merchandise is exported varies less than 5 percent from the buying rate first certified.
(e) The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shall decide the buying rate and certify the rate to the Secretary. The Secretary shall publish the rate at times and to the extent the Secretary considers necessary. In deciding the buying rate, the Bank may -
(1) consider the last ascertainable transactions and quotations (direct or through exchange of other currencies); and
(2) if there is no buying rate, calculate the rate from -
(A) actual transactions and quotations in demand or time bills of exchange; or
(B) the last ascertainable transactions and quotations outside the United States in or for exchange payable in United States currency or foreign currency.
“The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.” - J. Edgar Hoover
The masses indulge in petty falsehoods every day, but it would never come into their head to fabricate colossal untruths….The bigger the lie, therefore, the likelier it is to be believed. - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kempf
CONCLUSIONS
1.The office of the Secretary of State cannot define the word dollar.
2.Federal reserve notes are unquestionably not dollars.
3.Candidates for office are to report contributions and expenditures in dollar amounts.
4.The definition of what a dollars is “appears to be undecided.”
5.Laws which cannot tell the person of average intelligence what they must or cannot do are void for vagueness.
6.We do not know what a dollar is as it is apparently undefined.
7.Since the word “dollar” is currently undefined by “The Government of the United States” and Federal reserve notes are not dollars (See letters from elected officials) we will, if required by law and that is yet to be determined, report what we received that has value (not evidences of debt as debt is not of value) but we will just report the item themselves (like a dozen eggs) since we have no monetary unit of measurement established by law by Congress with which to judge contributions or expenditures.
If there is such a law please notify us immediately so that we may know when that law was passed and what it requires or defines.
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Christopher Hansen, State Chairman