The Declaration of Independence was a written statement adopted by the Continental Congress which announced that the thirteen American colonies were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire.
This document was written by Thomas Jefferson with the assistance of other founding fathers. It outlined the grievances of the monarchy and the Bank of England.
Jefferson started his first draft on June 11 and labored in seclusion writing a number of drafts. After the final draft was presented, the committee further revised the document and submitted it to the Continental Congress on June 28. On July 2, the Continental Congress voted for independence and further refined its Declaration of Independence before releasing it to the public on July 4th.
The final draft was voted in unanimously by all 13 colonies.
To quote William Greene, Ph.D.
http://www.ConstitutionalTender.com/
In early 2009, I was teaching a course on American Government at Gainesville State College here in Georgia. As I was going over with my students the powers prohibited of the States in Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, we hit upon this one: “No State shall… make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts”.
A student in the back of the room raised his hand, and asked, “What does Georgia use for paying its debts – money owed to the State, and by the State?”
“Federal Reserve Notes,” I replied.
“Not gold or silver coins?” he asked.
“No, not gold or silver coins. And no, Federal Reserve Notes are not backed by gold or silver coins, either.”
He raised his hand again. “Which States DO use gold and silver coins for paying State debts?”
“None of them,” I answered. “They all use Federal Reserve Notes, which were declared to be ‘legal tender’ by the U.S. Congress.”
“When did we pass a Constitutional Amendment to change this requirement in Article I, Section 10?” He had a puzzled look on his face.
My answer seemed to puzzle him even more. “We didn’t.”