has
been in being, a bank has existed, such as is now proposed to be
continued.

As early as 1791, after great deliberation, the first bank charter was
passed by Congress, and approved by President Washington. It established
an institution, resembling, in all things now objected to, the present
bank. That bank, like this, could take lands in payment of its debts;
that charter, like the present, gave the States no power of taxation; it
allowed foreigners to hold stock; it restrained Congress from creating
other banks. It gave also exclusive privileges, and in all particulars
it was, according to the doctrine of the message, as objectionable as
that now existing. That bank continued twenty years. In 1816, the
present institution was established, and has been ever since in full
operation. Now, Sir, the question of the power of Congress to create
such institutions has been contested in every manner known to our
Constitution and laws. The forms of the government furnish no new mode
in which to try this question. It has been discussed over and over
again, in Congress; it has been argued and solemnly adjudged in the
Supreme Court; every President, except the present, has considered it a
settled question; many of the State legislatures have instructed their
Senators to vote for the bank; the tribunals of the States, in every
instance, have supported its constitutionality; and, beyond all doubt
and dispute, the general public opinion of the country has at all times
given, and does now give, its full sanction and approbation to the
exercise of this power, as being a constitutional power. There has been
no opinion questioning the power expressed or intimated, at any time, by
either house of Congress, by any President, or by any respectable
judicial tribunal. Now, Sir, if this practice of near forty years, if
these repeated exercises of the power, if this solemn adjudication of
the Supreme Court, with the concurrence and approbation of public
opinion, do not settle the question, how is any question ever to be
settled, about which any one may choose to raise a doubt?

The argument of the message upon the Congressional precedents is either
a bold and gross fallacy, or else it is an assertion without proofs, and
against known facts. The message admits, that, in 1791, Congress decided
in favor of a bank; but it adds, that another Congress, in 1811, decided
against it. Now, if it be meant that, in 1811, Congress decided against
the ba