While
reviewing this time line you should be aware of what happens right after the
Bankers don’t get what they want! We have a War or a Bank Panic then the Bankers
get their way!
The Articles of
Confederation of the United Colonies of New England; May 19,
1643
Whereas we all came into these parts
of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of
our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity with
peace; and whereas in our settling (by a wise providence of God) we are further
dispersed upon the sea coasts and rivers than was at first intended, so that we
can not according to our desire with convenience communicate in one government
and jurisdiction; and whereas we live encompassed with people of several nations
and strange languages which hereafter may prove injurious to us or our
posterity.
By 1652, the
problem resulting from a shortage of coins had become extreme. England
had turned a deaf ear to the colonists' plea for specie, and the colonial
leaders did not believe that the people should have to continue using the
mixture of foreign coins, wampum, bullets, and barter objects any longer. In an
effort to provide more good coin to further trade and commerce, the
Massachusetts Bay Colony established an illegal mint in Boston in
1652.
That the common law
or fundamental rights and priviledges of West New Jersey, are individually
agreed upon by the Proprietors and freeholders thereof, to be the foundation
of the government, which is not to be altered by the Legislative
authority, or free Assembly hereafter mentioned and constituted, but that
the said Legislative authority is constituted according to these fundamentals,
to make such laws as agree with, and maintain the said fundamentals, and to
make no laws that in the least contradict, differ or vary from the said
fundamentals, under what presence or alligation soever.
1690
BILLS OF CREDIT – Paper money authorized
by order of the King
The Massachusetts Bay
Colony was authorized to raise troops to help British soldiers fight in King
William's War. The King allowed the colony to pay soldiers with Bills of
Credit - a promise to pay in the future - printed on paper by the
colony.
This experience was so
disastrous that it created a deep distrust of paper money issued by the
government. Experiments with paper money and coin continued after the
Revolution, with states and private banks printing their own currencies. Bank
notes became unpopular when too many banks began issuing too many different
paper currencies without sufficient ability to redeem them in coin. It was not
until the 1860s, when National Bank Notes were created during the Civil War,
that Americans finally achieved a reasonably stable money system.
By 1751, the British
Parliament passed a law forbidding the Massachusetts Bay Colony to issue money
in any form. But by this time, the colonists had begun to think about
independence. When the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, the Continental
Congress issued paper money to finance the war. Although the Congress had no
power of taxation, these notes were backed by anticipated future tax revenues.
Our young, inexperienced country issued far too much continental currency,
causing it to depreciate rapidly.
1764 -
The Currency Act - The
Colonies are ordered to stop printing paper money
WHEREAS great quantities of
paper bills of credit have been created and issued in his Majesty's colonies or
plantations in America, by virtue of acts, orders, resolutions, or votes of
assembly, making and declaring such bills of credit to be legal tender in
payment of money: and whereas such bills of credit have greatly depreciated in
their value, by means whereof debts have been discharged with a much less value
than was contracted for, to the great discouragement and prejudice of the trade
and commerce of his Majesty's subjects, by occasioning confusion in dealings,
and lessening credit in the said colonies or plantations: for remedy whereof,
may it please your most excellent Majesty, that it may be enacted; and be it
enacted by the King's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent
of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day
of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty four, no act, order,
resolution, or vote of assembly, in any of his Majesty's colonies or plantations
in America, shall be made, for creating or issuing any paper bills, or bills of
credit of any kind or denomination whatsoever, declaring such paper bills, or
bills of credit, to be legal tender in payment of any bargains, contracts,
debts, dues, or demands whatsoever; and every clause or provision which shall
hereafter be inserted in any act, order, resolution, or vote of assembly,
contrary to this act, shall be null and void.
That it is
inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of
Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given
personally, or by their representatives.
The members of this Congress,
sincerely devoted, with the warmest sentiments of affection and duty to His
Majesty's Person and Government, inviolably attached to the present happy
establishment of the Protestant succession, and with minds deeply impressed by a
sense of the present and impending misfortunes of the British colonies on this
continent; having considered as maturely as time will permit the circumstances
of the said colonies, esteem it our indispensable duty to make the following
declarations of our humble opinion, respecting the most essential rights and
liberties Of the colonists, and of the grievances under which they labour, by
reason of several late Acts of Parliament.
That His Majesty's subjects in these
colonies, owe the same allegiance to the Crown of Great-Britain, that is owing
from his subjects born within the realm, and all due subordination to that
august body the Parliament of Great Britain.
That His Majesty's liege subjects in
these colonies, are entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of his
natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great-Britain.
That it is inseparably essential to
the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be
imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their
representatives.
That the people of these colonies
are not, and from their local circumstances cannot be, represented in the House
of Commons in Great-Britain.
That the only representatives of the
people of these colonies, are persons chosen therein by themselves, and that no
taxes ever have been, or can be constitutionally imposed on them, but by their
respective legislatures.
That all supplies to the Crown,
being free gifts of the people, it is unreasonable and inconsistent with the
principles and spirit of the British Constitution, for the people of
Great-Britain to grant to His Majesty the property of the colonists.
That trial by jury is the inherent
and invaluable right of every British subject in these colonies.
That the late Act of Parliament,
entitled, An Act for granting and applying certain Stamp Duties, and other
Duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, etc., by imposing
taxes on the inhabitants of these colonies, and the said Act, and several other
Acts, by extending the jurisdiction of the courts of Admiralty be- yond its
ancient limits, have a manifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of
the colonists.
That the duties imposed by several
late Acts of Parliament, from the peculiar circumstances of these colonies, will
be extremely burthensome and grievous; and from the scarcity of specie, the
payment of them absolutely impracticable.
That as the profits of the trade of
these colonies ultimately center in Great-Britain, to pay for the manufactures
which they are obliged to take from thence, they eventually contribute very
largely to all supplies granted there to the Crown.
That the restrictions imposed by
several late Acts of Parliament, on the trade of these colonies, will render
them unable to purchase the manufactures of Great-Britain.
That the increase, prosperity, and
happiness of these colonies, depend on the full and free enjoyment of their
rights and liberties, and an intercourse with Great-Britain mutually
affectionate and advantageous.
That it is the right of the British
subjects in these colonies, to petition the King, Or either House of Parliament.
Lastly, That it is the indispensable
duty of these colonies, to the best of sovereigns, to the mother country, and to
themselves, to endeavour by a loyal and dutiful address to his Majesty, and
humble applications to both Houses of Parliament, to procure the repeal of the
Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, of all clauses of any other
Acts of Parliament, whereby the jurisdiction of the Admiralty is extended as
aforesaid, and of the other late Acts for the restriction of American
commerce.
An act for the better securing the
dependency of his majesty's dominions in America upon the crown and parliament
of Great Britain.
Whereas several of the houses of
representatives in his Majesty's colonies and plantations in America, have of
late against law, claimed to themselves, or to the general assemblies of the
same, the sole and exclusive right of imposing duties and taxes upon his
majesty's subjects in the said colonies and plantations; and have in pursuance
of such claim, passed certain votes, resolutions, and orders derogatory to the
legislative authority of parliament, and inconsistent with the dependency Of the
said colonies and plantations upon the crown of Great Britain : may it therefore
please your most excellent Majesty, that it may be declared ; and be it declared
by the King's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled,
and by the authority of the same, That the said colonies and plantations in
America have been, are, and of right ought to be, subordinate unto, and
dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain; and that the
King's majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and
temporal, and commons of Great Britain, in parliament assembled, had. bath, and
of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of
sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America,
subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever,
II. And be it further declared and
enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all resolutions, votes, orders, and
proceedings, in any of the said colonies or plantations, whereby the power and
authority of the parliament of Great Britain, to make laws and statutes as
aforesaid, is denied, or drawn into question, arc, and are hereby declared to
be, utterly null and void to all in purposes whatsoever.
Whereas,
since the close of the last war, the British parliament, claiming a power, of
right, to bind the people of America by statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath,
in some acts, expressly imposed taxes on them, and in others, under various
presences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates
and duties payable in these colonies, established a board of commissioners, with
unconstitutional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty,
not only for collecting the said duties, but for the trial of causes merely
arising within the body of a county:
And whereas, in consequence of other
statutes, judges, who before held only estates at will in their offices, have
been made dependant on the crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies
kept in times of peace: And whereas it has lately been resolved in parliament,
that by force of a statute, made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King
Henry the Eighth, colonists may be transported to England, and tried there upon
accusations for treasons and misprisions, or concealments of treasons committed
in the colonies, and by a late statute, such trials have been directed in cases
therein mentioned:
And whereas, in the last session of
parliament, three statutes were made; one entitled, "An act to discontinue, in
such manner and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and
discharging, lading, or shipping of goods, wares and merchandise, at the town,
and within the harbour of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay in New
England;" another entitled, "An act for the better regulating the government of
the province of Massachusetts-Bay in New England;" and another entitled, "An act
for the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons questioned
for any act done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of
riots and tumults, in the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New England;" and
another statute was then made, "for making more effectual provision for the
government of the province of Quebec, etc." All which statutes are impolitic,
unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, and most dangerous and
destructive of American rights:
And whereas, assemblies have been
frequently dissolved, contrary to the rights of the people, when they attempted
to deliberate on grievances; and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable
petitions to the crown for redress, have been repeatedly treated with contempt,
by his Majesty's ministers of state:
The good people of the several
colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Newcastle, Kent,
and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North- Carolina and South-Carolina,
justly alarmed at these arbitrary proceedings of parliament and administration,
have severally elected, constituted, and appointed deputies to meet, and sit in
general Congress, in the city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain such
establishment, as that their religion, laws, and liberties, may not be
subverted: Whereupon the deputies so appointed being now assembled, in a full
and free representation of these colonies, taking into their most serious
consideration, the best means of attaining the ends aforesaid, do, in the first
place, as Englishmen, their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for
asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties, DECLARE,
That the inhabitants of
the English colonies in North-America, by the immutable laws of nature, the
principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts,
have the following RIGHTS:
Resolved, N.C.D. 1. That they are entitled
to life, liberty and property: and they have never ceded to any foreign power
whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent.
Resolved, N.C.D. 2. That our ancestors, who
first settled these colonies, were at the time of their emigration from the
mother country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of free
and natural- born subjects, within the realm of England.
Resolved, N.C.D. 3. That by such emigration
they by no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that
they were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment
of all such of them, as their local and other circumstances enable them to
exercise and enjoy.
Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English
liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in
their legislative council: and as the English colonists are not represented, and
from their local and other circumstances, cannot properly be represented in the
British parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of
legislation in their several provincial legislatures, where their right of
representation can alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal
polity, subject only to the negative of their sovereign, in such manner as has
been heretofore used and accustomed: But, from the necessity of the case, and a
regard to the mutual interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the
operation of such acts of the British parliament, as are bonfide, restrained to
the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing the
commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the
commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation
internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects, in America, without
their consent.
Resolved, N.C.D. 5. That the respective colonies are entitled to
the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable
privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course
of that law.
Resolved, N.C.D. 6. That they are entitled
to the benefit of such of the English statutes, as existed at the time of their
colonization; and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be
applicable to their several local and other circumstances.
Resolved, N.C.D. 7. That these, his
Majesty's colonies, are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges
granted and confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several
codes of provincial laws.
Resolved, N.C.D. 8. That they have a right
peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the king; and
that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the same,
are illegal.
Resolved, N.C.D. 9. That the keeping a
standing army in these colonies, in times of peace, without the consent of the
legislature of that colony, in which such army is kept, is against law.
Resolved, N.C.D. 10. It is indispensably
necessary to good government, and rendered essential by the English
constitution, that the constituent branches of the legislature be independent of
each other; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several
colonies, by a council appointed, during pleasure, by the crown, is
unconstitutional, dangerous and destructive to the freedom of American
legislation.
All and each of which the aforesaid
deputies, in behalf of themselves, and their constituents, do claim, demand, and
insist on, as their indubitable rights and liberties, which cannot be legally
taken from them, altered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own
consent, by their representatives in their several provincial legislature.
In the course of our inquiry, we
find many infringements and violations of the foregoing rights, which, from an
ardent desire, that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and interest may
be restored, we pass over for the present, and proceed to state such acts and
measures as have been adopted since the last war, which demonstrate a system
formed to enslave America.
Resolved, N.C.D. That the following acts of parliament are
infringements and violations of the rights of the colonists; and that the repeal
of them is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony between Great
Britain and the American colonies, viz.
The several acts of Geo. III. ch.
15, and ch. 34.-5 Geo. III. ch.25.-6 Geo. ch. 52.-7 Geo.III. ch. 41 and ch.
46.-8 Geo. III. ch. 22. which impose duties for the purpose of raising a revenue
in America, extend the power of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient
limits, deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorize the judges
certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he might otherwise be
liable to, requiring oppressive security from a claimant of ships and goods
seized, before he shall be allowed to defend his property, and are subversive of
American rights.
Also 12 Geo. III. ch. 24, intituled,
"An act for the better securing his majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships,
ammunition, and stores," which declares a new offence in America, and deprives
the American subject of a constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by
authorizing the trial of any person, charged with the committing any offence
described in the said act, out of the realm, to be indicted and tried for the
same in any shire or county within the realm.
Also the three acts passed in the
last session of parliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of
Boston, for altering the charter and government of Massachusetts-Bay, and that
which is entitled, "An act for the better administration of justice, etc."
Also the act passed in the same
session for establishing the Roman Catholic religion, in the province of Quebec,
abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there,
to the great danger (from so total a dissimilarity of religion, law and
government) of the neighboring British colonies, by the assistance of whose
blood and treasure the said country was conquered from France.
Also the act passed in the same
session, for the better providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in
his majesty's service, in North-America.
Also, that the keeping a standing
army in several of these colonies, in time of peace, without the consent of the
legislature of that colony, in which such army is kept, is against law.
To these grievous acts and measures,
Americans cannot submit, but in hopes their fellow subjects in Great Britain
will, on a revision of them, restore us to that state, in which both countries
found happiness and prosperity, we have for the present, only resolved to pursue
the following peaceable measures: 1. To enter into a non-importation,
non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement or association. 2. To prepare an
address to the people of Great-Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of
British America: and 3. To prepare a loyal address to his majesty, agreeable to
resolutions already entered into.
I
found the reason, per the ‘Resolved, N.C.D. 5’
listed above, why the colonies demanded that they were entitled to the common
law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of
being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law,
within the last paragraph of the introduction of this
book! This is the most important thing I have
learned in my life!
In all the various revolutions, with
their dark and dreary scenes of violence and bloodshed, through which England
has passed, the people have clung to their ancient laws with a devotion almost
superstitious. When our forefathers established governments in America they laid
their foundations on the common law. And when difficulties grew up between them
and the mother country, they acted as their English ancestors had always acted
in their political troubles - interposed the common law as the shield against
arbitrary power. When the United Colonies met in Congress, in 1774, they claimed
the common law of England as a branch of those "indubitable rights and liberties
to which the respective colonies are entitled." And the common law, like a silent providence is still
the preserver of our liberties.
1775
War
begins with The Shot Heard 'Round The
World -The tension between Britain and the
colonies exploded into battle on April 19, 1775 when British soldiers marched on
Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts in an attempt to confiscate the rebels'
cache of "illegal" weapons and, if possible, to capture Samuel Adams and John
Hancock, the men held largely responsible for the growing tide of dissent in the
colonies.
He has refused his Assent to Laws,
the most wholesome and necessary for the public
good.
He has forbidden his Governors to
pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their
operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has
utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws
for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would
relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable
to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative
bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of
their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance
with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative
Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights
of the people.
He has refused for a long time,
after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative
powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for
their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers
of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the
population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for
Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their
migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of
Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his
Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his
Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their
salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New
Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out
their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of
peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our
legislatures.
He has affected to render the
Military independent of and superior to the Civil
power.
He has combined with others to
subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by
our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended
Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed
troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for
any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these
States:
For cutting off our Trade with all
parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our
Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of
the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to
be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of
English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary
government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example
and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these
Colonies:
For taking away our Charters,
abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our
Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures,
and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases
whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by
declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against
us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged
our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our
people.
He is at this time transporting
large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation
and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely
paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a
civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow
Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to
become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by
their Hands.
He has excited domestic
insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our
frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and
conditions.
United States
Banking began in
1781 with an act of United States Congress that established the Bank of North America in Philadelphia. During the American Revolutionary War, the Bank of North America
was given a monopoly on currency; prior to this time, private
banks printed their own bank
notes, backed by deposits of gold and/or silver.
Article 1: His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the
said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent
states, that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs,
and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and
territorial rights of the same and every part
thereof.
1787
September
17th - Constitution for the United States of
America - We the People of the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for
the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of
Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.
Alexander Hamilton proposes a Bank
of the United States.
Hamilton states: “A bank has a
natural relation to the power of collecting taxes - to that of regulating trade
- to that of providing for the common defense... [Therefore] the incorporation
of a bank is a constitutional measure...”
December 16 Patrick Henry opposes
the National bank because it is unconstitutional.
1791
February 25 - President Washington
asks his cabinet members for opinions on the National Bank.
Thomas Jefferson submitted, “The
incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill, have not, in my
opinion, been delegated to the United States by the Constitution.” and would
also violate the yet to be ratified 10th Amendment.
February 20 - Congress refuses to
let the National Bank renew its Charter on the grounds that the Bank is
unconstitutional.
March 4 -
The Bank of the United States is dissolved.
1812
War of 1812 - The
Americans declared war on Britain on June 18, 1812 for a combination of reasons:
outrage at the impressment
(seizure) of thousands of American sailors into the British navy, frustration at
British restraints on neutral trade, and anger at British military support for
Native Americans defending their tribal lands from encroaching American
settlers.
1815
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, January 1,
1815 – “All
these doubts and fears prove only the extent of the dominion which the banking
institutions have obtained over the minds of our citizens, and especially of
those inhabiting cities or other banking places ; and this dominion must
be broken, or it will break us.”
If the American People ever allow
the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then
by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will
deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the
continent their fathers occupied. The issuing power of money should be taken
from the bankers and restored to Congress and the people to whom it belongs. I
sincerely believe the banking institutions having the issuing power of money are
more dangerous to liberty than standing armies. Quotes of the Founding Fathers on Banks
We are completely saddled and
bridled, and the bank is so firmly mounted on us that we must go where they ill
guide.
The dominion which the banking
institutions have obtained over the minds of our citizens...must be broken, or
it will break us.
January 20 - President Madison
vetoes a bill that would create a second National
Bank.
1816
January 8 - Faced with financial hardship from the War of
1812, Congress proposes a 2nd National Bank. The Bill also allows the
President to suspend hard currency.
March 14 - The 2nd National Bank
gets Congressional approval.
1817
Banking
Panic of
1819 (1819 - 1824), the first
major financial crisis in the United States.
January 1 - The 2nd
National Bank opens for business.
January - With the National Bank
powerless, Jackson successfully pays off the
nations debt leaving the U.S. with a surplus of $5,000.
1836 –
INFLATION!
July 11 - Paper money results in
tremendous inflation in property
value. President Jackson issues a Specie Circular mandating that land payments
be made with gold and silver.
1837
Banking
Panic of
1837 (1837 - 1843), a sharp
downturn in the American economy caused by bank failures and lack of confidence
in the paper currency
1840
July 4 - President Van Buren
approves the Independent Treasury which allows the Federal government to control
it's own money.
1841
June 7 - Henry Clay, on behalf of
the Whig party, introduces legislation to abolish the Independent Treasury in
hopes to replace the national banking system with a Federal Bank.
July 28 - The Senate passes a bill,
sponsored by the Whig party, to revive the 2nd National Bank by creating a
Federal Bank that would be called The Fiscal Bank of the United States. (A State
chartered Bank for the District of Columbia that would be used by the U.S.
Government. ) President Tyler vetoes the bill as unconstitutional.
August 13 - The Independent Treasury
Act is repealed leaving the National government without a Banking system for the
next 5 years. The Secretary of the Treasury deposits the government's money into
State Banks.
September 3 - Congress again tries
to create a Federal Bank. This time, they set it up to be run by State office
holders. Again, President Tyler vetoes it as
unconstitutional.
1846
– WAR!
The
Mexican-American War was a
military conflict fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to
1848, in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas. Mexico had not
recognized the secession of Texas in 1836 and announced its intention to take
back what it considered a rebel province.
Long
Depression (1873 - 1896), begins with the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange and spreads throughout the world.
Some historians do not believe it is actually one large recession. It is
important to note that during this period the global industrial production
greatly increased. In the US for example, industrial output increased 4 times.
1875
January 14 - The Specie Resumption
Act allows legal tender to be exchanged for gold. When the Act goes into affect
in 1879, the nation starts to revive from the 1873 depression.
1893
Banking
Panic of
1893 (1893 - 1896), failure of the
U.S. Reading
Railroad and withdrawal of European investment leads to a stock
market and banking collapse
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES -
Decided: March 28, 1898 - GRAY, J., Opinion of the Court -The
language
ofthe
Constitution, as has been well said, could not be understood without reference
tothecommon law. Kent
Com. 336; Bradley,
J., in Moore v. United
States, 91 U.S. 270, 274.
[p655]
1907 –
INFLATION!
Banking
Panic of 1907was the fourth panic in 34
years. The Nation again goes into a Depression because
of paper currency, but J.P. Morgan (1837-1913)
saves the Nation
from a major crisis by providing the government with $100 million dollars in
gold.
Arsène Pujo,a member of the United States House of
Representatives became a member of the National Monetary
Commission, a body which sought to study
foreign banking systems to better the domestic banking system. In 1911, he was
appointed to chair the House Banking and Currency
Committee. In 1912, he left the
National Monetary Commission and obtained congressional authorization to form a
separate committee, which came to be called the "Pujo
Committee", which sought to expose an
anticompetitive conspiracy among
some of the nation's most powerful financial interests.
"Pujo
Committee" was an investigation into
the so-called "money
trust" (a small group of Wall
Street bankers that exerted powerful control over the nation's
finances).
The Pujo
Committee found that a cabal of financial leaders were abusing their public
trust to consolidate control over many industries. Although Pujo left Congress
in 1913, the findings of the committee inspired public support for ratification
of the Sixteenth
Amendment in 1913, passage of the
Federal Reserve Actthat
same year, and passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act in
1914. They were also widely publicized in the Louis
Brandeis book, Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use
It.
Ask for
research on ‘John
Pierpont Morgan and the American Corporation’!
1913
December 23 - In response to the
National Depression in 1907, President Wilson gets Congress to pass the
Owen-Glass Federal Reserve
Act. The Act is intended to better regulate paper money.
So what happen? The Act was intended
to better regulate paper money!