I think you're the one that needs to read up. If you owe ANY debt to ANYONE in the United States you may pay it with Federal Reserve Notes, and if the creditor refuses to accept them, the debt is quitted except for exceptions provided for by law where such payment may be impractical or cause undue hardship upon the creditor.
I just happen to have an Encyclopedia Britannica here. It says: "Legal Tender, any type of money or medium of exchange that by law must be accepted for the payment of all debts, public and private. The creation of legal tender is by government fiat." (I.e. FORCE!)
Your discussion of counterfeit coppers is silly. They may have some value to collectors, but they are otherwise worthless.
ML/NJ
Operative word MAY. They don’t have to take it. And that idea that the debt goes away is a complete myth. Try buying a pack of bubble gum with a $100 at 7-11, they ain’t taking it, and you don’t get the gum for free.
The Encyclopedia Britannica is wrong. It does NOT have to be taken.
It’s not a silly discussion at all. Those counterfeits WERE taken as money for nearly a century before England fixed their metals problem. That period of history is the proof that the power of money comes from PEOPLE not government. READ IT. LEARN