The Bank of the United States Records contains correspondence and documents primarily related to the second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, with a small collection of material from the first bank, and from several of the second bank's branches in other American cities. There is correspondence with officers of the banks and its patrons John Sergeant, Basil Hall, Nathaniel Silsbee, and William Henry Harrison, as well as documents relating to the construction of the second Bank building designed by William Strickland. Papers relating to the duties of the Commissioners of Loans in the states of Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania are filed at the end of the collection., The early national period of the United States was marked by two attempts at central banking, the first and second Bank of the United States, both headquartered in Philadelphia. The first bank was chartered in 1791 with a twenty-year term that was allowed to expire in 1811. Its first president, serving from 1791 through 1807, was Philadelphia merchant Thomas Willing (1731-1821). The bank established offices of discount and deposit in 1792 in Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, and New York, after which it opened offices in Norfolk (1800), Washington and Savannah (1802), and New Orleans (1805)., Plagued by financial troubles during and after the War of 1812, Congress authorized a second bank in 1816, also with a twenty-year renewable term. The acting treasury secretary and Philadelphia native William Jones (1760-1831) was appointed the second bank's first president, succeeded in 1819 by Langdon Cheves (1776-1857), and in 1823 by Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844). The second Bank of the United States opened in Philadelphia in 1817 with seventeen branches in twelve states and the District of Columbia; by 1830 there were twenty-five branches in operation. The bank was not renewed by Congress, and ceased operation in 1836.
Date
1790
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 012, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64307#page/1/mode/1up
