"By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 5 (b) of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended by Section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933 ?, in which Congress declared that a serious emergency exists, I as President, do declare that the national emergency still exists; that the continued private hoarding of gold and silver by subjects of the United States poses a grave threat to the peace, equal justice, and well-being of the United States; and that appropriate measures must be taken immediately to protect the interests of our people."

Therefore, pursuant to the above authority, I hereby proclaim that such gold and silver holdings are prohibited, and that all such coin, bullion or other possessions of gold and silver be tendered within fourteen days to agents of the Government of the United States for compensation at the official price, in the legal tender of the Government. 

All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed, pending action in the due course of the law.  All sales or purchases or movements of such gold and silver within the borders of the United States and its territories and all foreign exchange transactions or movements of such metals across the border are hereby prohibited.

Your possession of these proscribed metals and/or your maintenance of a safe deposit box to store them is known by the government from bank and insurance records.  Therefore, be advised that your vault box must remain sealed, and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the Internal Revenue Service.

By lawful order given this day, the President of the United States.”
                               Franklin Roosevelt – March 9, 1933

Comments & Opinions
The law that permitted the seizure of gold from U.S. citizens is still in effect to this day. In fact, the Executive Order remained in effect from 1933 until 1971 making it illegal to own and hold gold bullion.

Shortly after the order went into effect in 1933 all gold was seized and Americans were given new "paper dollars."  The value of gold was then raised which devalued all paper dollars.  This immediately reduced purchasing power of the "new paper dollars" and overnight robbed hard working Americans of millions of dollars.

Thankfully, certain U.S. "Collector" Rare Coins were later excluded, by law, from confiscation and continue to be excluded today.  In addition, Congress specifically excluded the American Eagle gold coins from confiscation prior to their release in 1986.