Bank of North America

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Bank of North America

The Bank of North America ( Bank of America ) was in 1781 by the Continental Congress established and adopted on January 7, 1782 Philadelphia its work. It was the first modern bank in the United States .

After the merchant and former Congressman Robert Morris , known as the "financier of the revolution", so the American Revolutionary War , had accepted his appointment as the first Superintendent of Finance of the United States on February 20, 1781 on May 14 of the year, he proposed to Congress proposed the establishment of a national bank three days later, which the latter approved on May 26th. It was a private commercial bank whose banknotes were accepted nationwide by the state treasury and a monopoly was granted for the duration of the war.

Morris was personally active in raising the necessary capital, including by obtaining a loan from the French state. As Superintendent of Finance , he oversaw the bank and determined its policies. It issued a large number of gold and silver coin issues and bills of exchange .

The Bank of North America lost its role as central bank in 1783/1784, followed by the First Bank of the United States . As a private commercial bank, the name Bank of North America survived until 1929, when it was merged with First Pennsylvania Bank .

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Notes and individual references

  1. ^ Forerunner of the finance minister
  2. ^ Morris' letter and the decision of the Continental Congress as a facsimile: A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: US Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875, Journals of the Continental Congress, Volume 20, p. 545 , p. 546 , p.547 , p. 548 ( Library of Congress )