"No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation;
grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit;
make any thing but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts;
pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the
obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility."
The prohibition against treaties, alliances, and confederations makes a
part of the existing articles of Union; and for reasons which need no
explanation, is copied into the new Constitution. The prohibition of
letters of marque is another part of the old system, but is somewhat
extended in the new. According to the former, letters of marque could be
granted by the States after a declaration of war; according to the
latter, these licenses must be obtained, as well during war as previous
to its declaration, from the government of the United States. This
alteration is fully justified by the advantage of uniformity in all
points which relate to foreign powers; and of immediate responsibility
to the nation in all those for whose conduct the nation itself is to be
responsible.
The right of coining money, which is here taken from the States, was
left in their hands by the Confederation, as a concurrent right with
that of Congress, under an exception in favor of the exclusive right of
Congress to regulate the alloy and value.
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