In 1933, the United States government seized gold—not from a foreign nation, but from its own citizens.
Through the Emergency Banking Act, the president was granted extraordinary powers to take possession of private gold holdings, effectively overriding the protections guaranteed under the Constitution. Overnight, Americans were forced to turn over their gold to the government.
The immediate effect was striking: as soon as the gold was confiscated, its value in terms of purchasing power increased. This was not a coincidence—it was a direct demonstration of how markets can be manipulated when central authority exerts control over private assets. What had been a stable store of wealth for citizens was suddenly transformed into state-controlled capital.
If the Constitution had been fully enforced, such an action would have been illegal. The president has no lawful authority to seize private property. Yet, under the guise of “emergency,” the law empowered the government to override individual rights, demonstrating that when systems claim necessity, they can justify the appropriation of wealth.
This historical event is a powerful example of how legal structures and markets can be manipulated simultaneously. Citizens’ trust in the security of their wealth was violated, and the repercussions rippled through the economy for years.
It serves as a cautionary lesson: even in a system designed to protect property, emergencies—real or manufactured—can shift power and wealth into centralized hands, often without consent.
Listen to the entire conversation here https://www.andrewkaufmanmd.com/blog/Constitution-in-Chains-US-Quietly-Declared-War-on-Its-Citizens
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