In 1791, The First Bank of the United States was a financial innovation proposed and supported by Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury. Establishment of the bank was part of a three-part expansion of federal fiscal and monetary power, along with a federal mint and excise taxes. Hamilton believed that a national bank was necessary to stabilize and improve the nation's credit, and to improve financial order, clarity, and precedence of the United States government under the newly enacted Constitution. Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) was a founding father of the United States, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the Constitution, the founder of the American financial system, and the founder of the Federalist Party. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the primary author of the economic policies for George Washington’s administration. Hamilton took the lead in the funding of the states’ debts by the federal government, the establishment of a national bank, and forming friendly trade relations with Britain. He led the Federalist Party, created largely in support of his views; he was opposed by the Democratic Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, which despised Britain and feared that Hamilton’s policies of a strong central government would weaken the American commitment to Republicanism.

Excerpt from State Banking in the United States Since the Passage of the National Bank Act Not every incorporated bank, however, is a state bank in the sense in which the term will be used here after. Stock savings banks and loan and trust companies are capitalized corporations erected by state law, but it is only with banks of discount and deposit that this essay deals.' It is to be admitted that in many states, savings banks with a capital stock as well as trust companies are included in state banks in popular and even, in some cases, in official language, but there seems a growing dis position to classify these separately and to restrict the term state bank to banks of discount and deposit. Further justification of this use may be found in the fact that four-fifths of the capitalized banks incorporated under state laws are of this character, and it seems permissible to use the term without qualification to express the most numerous class. State banks then as the expression is used in the following pages, are banks of discount and de posit (as distinguished from savings banks and trust com panics) incorporated under state sovereignty (in contrast with private banks which are unincorporated and with national banks, which are formed under the national law). About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Provides an in-depth overview of the Federal Reserve System, including information about monetary policy and the economy, the Federal Reserve in the international sphere, supervision and regulation, consumer and community affairs and services offered by Reserve Banks. Contains several appendixes, including a brief explanation of Federal Reserve regulations, a glossary of terms, and a list of additional publications.