Trump v. Cook · ¶13

Another national bank, however, quickly followed in its footsteps. In 1791, at Hamilton’s urging, the First Congress chartered a bank that came to be known as the First Bank of the United States, with similar goals to the Bank of North America—and a similar degree of independence from the Congress that gave it life. Like the Bank of North America, the First Bank would be owned in part by the Federal Government, but run by directors accountable only to private stockholders. See Act of Feb. 25, 1791, §4, 1 Stat. 192–193; see also Wright & Cowen 10–13; E. Perkins, American Public Finance and Financial Services, 1700– 1815, p. 236 (1994); E. Lomazoff, Reconstructing the National Bank Controversy 33–38 (2018) (Lomazoff ). To Hamilton, that was key. “To attach full confidence to an institution of this nature,” he wrote, “it appears to be an essential ingredient in its structure, that it shall…

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