Knox v. Lee

In the Legal Tender Act of 1862, Congress made paper dollars legal tender for public and private debts, including debts already incurred before the Act. The plaintiff sued the federal government, challenging the Act's constitutionality and arguing that Congress's constitutional power to coin money and set its value applied only to actual coins made of gold and silver, not paper currency. The lower court upheld the Act, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.