Silver and Gold

Last night I studied Article I, Sections 8, 9 and 10 of the constitution.

The United States was on a gold and silver standard meaning you could exchange your paper money for gold or silver at any time. The amount of gold and silver in the treasury was at least equal to the amount of paper money in circulation. The United States was taken off this standard in part to help pay for the New Deal. Since this time the buying power of the dollar has been greatly reduced.

Congress, not the President, has the power to call up the militia for three purposes.
1. To suppress insurrection.
2. To repel an invasion by a foreign power.
3. To execute the laws of the United States.
The militia contains two parts. The first is the organized militia which is the National Guard. The President has no power to call up the National Guard especially to send it overseas. The second part of the militia is the unorganized militia which includes most males 17 to 44 years old. Those that say the second amendment only applies to the National Guard because it is a militia are wrong as most males are part of the militia according to our laws.

The federal government is authorized to occupy certain areas within a state if that area is purchased with the consent of the state legislature. There are only four reasons why the federal government can purchase state land.
1. For the erection of forts.
2. For magazines and arsenals.
3. For dock-yards.
4. For other needful buildings such as post offices.
The current practice of the federal government of seizing large portions of land for parks and wilderness areas goes against the constitution especially since it is done without consent of the state. 65%-70% of Utah is owned by the federal government. The rest of the states also contain a large percent of federal land that was not purchased with the consent of the state.

Before the Sixteenth Amendment the federal government could not tax income or any other direct tax. All taxes has to be uniformly assessed according to the population of each state. The founding fathers goal was to keep the federal government small enough that it could be funded by income from tariffs. Taxing the people by the federal government would only be required in emergencies such as wartime.

There are many other laws in these sections but these are the ones that I found most interesting.