nd beauty cannot save their
possessors from the fury of the multitude, more than from the raging
elements, though they may inspire that pride and self-opinion which
expose them to it.

[34] It was observed that almost all the greatest cruelties of the Reign
of Terror were resolved on by committees of persons who had been in the
immediate employment of the great, and had suffered by their caprice and
insolence.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNITED STATES BANK

A.D. 1791

ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND LAWRENCE LEWIS, JR.

Through the founding of the first Bank of the United States,
which existed from 1791 to 1811, and was succeeded by
another national bank in 1817, the monetary affairs of the
Republic, under Hamilton's able administration, were placed
upon a sounder basis, and the transaction of public business
was greatly facilitated.

During the seventeenth century Indian money (wampum) was
much used by the colonists, especially in their trade with
the Indians. For a long time it was a legal tender in common
with other currencies. The earliest American coinage is said
to date from 1612. In Massachusetts, the "pine-tree"
money--silver coins bearing the emblem of a pine-tree--was
used from 1652 to 1686. Soon began the issue of various
paper moneys in the colonies, and the establishment of banks
under the colonial governments. The "Continental currency"
of the Revolution, first issued in 1775 by authority of the
Continental Congress, began to depreciate almost as soon as
it appeared, and in 1780 ceased to circulate.

In 1780 the Pennsylvania Bank, in Philadelphia, began to
assist the Government, and rendered useful service until
1784. But the need of a national bank had already become
evident. Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance for the
United States, secured the organization, at Philadelphia, of
the Bank of North America, with a capital of four hundred
thousand dollars. It was incorporated by Congress in
December, 1781, and soon after by the State of Pennsylvania.
Its success led to the founding of the Bank of New York in
1784.

On the organization of the Government under the Federal
Constitution, the genius of Alexander Hamilton was called
into service for the work of constructive statesmanship.
From 1789 to 1795 he was Secretary of the Treasury; and one