Why are FRNs not dollars?

[midnight rambler]

I wish someone smarter than me would articulate why FRNs are not really dollars, by law.

TIA

[Celtic Rogue]

I found this on Wikipedia:

On April 2, 1792, U. S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton reported to Congress the precise amount of silver found in Spanish milled dollar coins in common use in the States. Based on this result, the United States Dollar was defined[4] as a quantity of 371 4/16th grains (24.057 grams) of pure silver, or 416 grains of standard silver (standard silver being defined as 1,485 parts fine silver to 179 parts alloy[5]). It was specified that the "money of account" of the United States should be expressed in those same "dollars" or parts thereof. Additionally, all lesser-denomination coins were defined as percentages of the dollar coin, such that a half-dollar was to contain half as much silver as a dollar, quarter-dollars would contain one-fourth as much, and so on.

In an act passed in January 1837, the dollar's alloy (amount of non-silver metal present) was set at 11%. Subsequent coins would contain the same amount of pure silver as previously, but were reduced in overall weight (to 412.25 grains). On February 21, 1853, the quantity of silver in the lesser coins was reduced, with the effect that their denominations no longer represented their silver content relative to dollar coins.

Various acts have subsequently been passed affecting the amount and type of metal in U. S. coins, so that today there is no legal definition of the term "dollar" to be found in U. S. statute.[6][7][8] Currently the closest thing to a definition is found in United States Code Title 31, Section 5116, paragraph b, subsection 2: "The Secretary [of the Treasury] shall sell silver under conditions the Secretary considers appropriate for at least $1.292929292 a fine troy ounce." Silver was mostly removed from U. S. coinage by 1965, as the dollar became a free-floating fiat currency. The US Mint continues to make silver $1-denomination coins, but these are not intended for general circulation

[SLV^GLD]

I wish someone smarter than me would articulate why FRNs are not really dollars, by law.

TIA
Damn, dude, you just about had to resign from GSUS, there. But thanks anyway, we like knocking the easy ones out of the park.

[midnight rambler]

That info from wikipedia is somewhat helpful, but what I'd like to know is what and where is the authority that allows the Fed to put the word "dollar" on the FRN? Or is there no authority at all and it's simply a matter of induced mass hysteria spanning no less than 77 years?

[midnight rambler]

Perhaps this question will help to clarify my question about how is it that FRNs are called dollars.

Is this a rose?

http://www.sallyfulton.com/paintings/rose.jpg

[Glass]

I dont think FRN's are dollars per se. I think they are simply denominated using the term dollar.

[SLV^GLD]

That's a good perspective; by what authority does the FRN get to use the term dollar?
I don't have the answer but if I were to guess I'd say the authority is either false or came about by the same "authority" by which we introduced the original metallic dollar as currency.

[palani]

These are dollars

http://growabrain.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/06/zimbabwe_dollars.jpg

It even identifies itself as a bearer instrument ... pay on demand. [If you demand payment you are taken around back and shot]

[madfranks]

Something happened between this note, which is redeemable for dollars:

http://banknoteden.com/images/1s%20and%205s/United%20States%20of%20America%205%20Dollars%20FRN-%201934A%20Front.jpg

and this note, which declares itself to be dollars:

http://www.banknoteden.com/images/1s%20and%205s/United%20States%20of%20America%205%20Dollars%20FRN-%201963A%20Front.jpg

But I don't recall ever reading the reasons they changed the wordings on the notes; perhaps it was because a year later the silver was going to be taken out of the money supply anyway and they didn't need a redeemable currency anymore.