United States dollar

The Constitution of the United States of America provides that the United States Congress shall have the power "To coin Money".[14] Laws implementing this power are currently codified in Section 5112 of Title 31 of the United States Code. Section 5112 provides that United States dollars shall be issued in two forms: (1) a coin made of a copper alloy and (2) a coin made of pure silver.[15] Those coins are both designated in Section 5112 as "legal tender" in payment of debts.[15] The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar. The pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins, which have values ranging from one-hundredth of one dollar to fifty dollars.[15] These other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that "a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time".[16] That provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code.[17] The sums of money reported in the "Statements" are currently being expressed in U.S. dollars (for example, see the 2009 Financial Report of the United States Government).[18] The U.S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States.