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U.S. Banking History
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1791 Bank of the US
The United States Congress chartered the First Bank fo the US for a twetny year period, following the bank of North America. It was part of Alexander Hamilton's three part expansion as Secretary of teh Treasury, also including the federal mint and excise taxes. He felt. The national bank worked to stabilize and improve the credit of the nation. -
1816 Second Bank of the US
Another bank authorized by Alexander Hamilton on a twnty year charter, the Second Bank of the United States was established to handle all the fiscal transactions of the U.S. Government. About four thousand private investors were responsible for 80% of the bank's captial, while the other fifth was provided by the Federal Government. -
Civil War Currency
The paper currency printed during the Civil war was known as Greenbacks. These came in Demand notes, which were not legal tender but worked to finance the war, and United states notes, which was unbakced money necessary to make up for the finances wich demand notes did not cover. -
1863 National Bank Act
This act was incited by the financial crisis brought on by the Civil War and was enacted to bring financial stability and help fund the war. It helped create a national banking system and forced national banks to purchase government bonds in order to be able to issue notes. -
1913 Federal Reserve Act
An act of Congress which worked to create the central banking system of the Unted States, as well as the authority to use Federeal Reserve notes as legal tender. This was resposible for the entity we know as the Fed, which exists in large part to deal with banking panics. -
Great Depression Banking
The Great Depression either caused, or was caused by massive banking failures in the early 1930s. 11,000 of the nation's top 25,000 banks went keput during this time. Following the stock market crash of 1929, people began withdrawing their money from banks and many went bellyup deepening the already serious banking issues. -
Glass-Steagall Act
Used to refer to the entire Banking Act of 1933, The Glass-Steagall Act most often refers to the four provisions that limited securities, activities, and affiliations within commercial banks and securities firms. The act worked to separate investing and commercial banking activities, a former union thought to be largely responsible for the stock market crash. -
Great Inflation of the 70s
A stock market loss of 40% in just 18 months and a general distrust of stocks through the 70s meant economic growth weakened and unemployment surged beyond 10%. These factors caused high inflation and interest rates as high as 20% were implemented tor everse such trends. -
Recession of early 1980s
High oil prices, along with Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker’s move to decrease inflation through restrictive monetary policy contributed significatnyl tot the recession lasting from 1980 to 1982- the most significant one since the Great Depression. -
Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act
This act which is also referred to as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, was enacted in order to repeal part of the earlier Glass-Steagall Act. Specifically it repealed the barrier preventing the consolidation of investing, commercial, and insurance companies in a single instiution.
