Trump v. Cook · ¶12
Thus was born the Bank of North America. Its structure was unusual. It was to be owned in part by the Government (at least at first) and in part by the public, run by directors accountable only to private stockholders and yet tasked with public purposes—specifically, the maintenance of a sound national currency. See 20 Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, pp. 545–546 (G. Hunt ed. 1912); 21 id., at 1185–1190; see also E. Kaplan, The Bank of the United States and the American Economy 10–14 (1999). But it worked. See R. Wright & D. Cowen, Financial Founding Fathers 127–131 (2006) (Wright & Cowen). Such a bank was a “necessity,” Thomas Paine later wrote, “for what with the depreciation of the currency, the slow operation of taxes, and the petitions to be exempt therefrom, the treasury was moneyless, and the government creditless.” Dissertations on Government, the Affairs of the…Read in context ›
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