In 1965, the United States began removing the silver content of its newly minted coins, eliminating almost all intrinsic value from its coinage, and allowing nearly 50 years of increasing levels of inflation. This inflation has slowly eroded the purchasing power of the nation's currency, and has reduced the value of the coinage currently in circulation to the point that a U.S. nickel is no longer worth the metal that it is composed of.
We, the people of the United States of America, petition the United States Federal Government to, once again, begin minting dimes, quarters, halves and dollars that contain an exact amount of silver equal to the coinage minted before 1965.
http://www.constitution.org/uslaw/coinage1792.txt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_coin
http://www.coinflation.com