more than $70,000 was entered during the summer months. The arrival
at Boston of a French war frigate with a remittance of $470,000 in
specie, which was brought to Philadelphia and deposited in the vaults of
the bank, enabled Mr. Morris to mature his plans. He designed to retain
this sum in the bank as a specie basis; but the necessities of the
country were so urgent during the critical season of the Yorktown
campaign, that nearly one half of it was exhausted before an
organization could be effected. In December Congress passed an ordinance
of incorporation. Mr. Morris then subscribed the specie remaining in the
Treasury, about $254,000, for shares for account of the United States,
which became thereby the principal stockholder. The limit assigned by
the ordinance remained, however, at ten millions of dollars. There was
nothing in the acts of Congress which implied any exclusive right of the
United States government in the bank except during the war of the
Revolution. A local charter was obtained from the legislature of
Pennsylvania, and the bank was opened in Philadelphia for the
transaction of business in January, 1782. Its services to the government
during the period of the war were inestimable. In the words of Hamilton,
"American independence owes much to it." But after the war such were
the local jealousies, the fears of oppression, and the dread of foreign
influence, that, on the petition of the inhabitants of Philadelphia and
some of the neighboring counties, the legislature of Pennsylvania
repealed its charter on September 13, 1785. The bank continued its
operations, however, under the charter from Congress. On March 17, 1787,
the legislature of Pennsylvania renewed the charter for fourteen years
and limited the capital to two millions of dollars. The charter was
extended for a similar term of fourteen years on March 26, 1799. Thus in
the beginning of the American banking system are found that distrust and
jealousy of money power which seem inherent in democracies. The exercise
of state jurisdiction over the existence of the Bank of North America
suggested possible embarrassments, which could not escape the
discernment of Hamilton, whose policy, as it was also that of the
Federal party, was to strengthen the powers of the government in every
vital branch of administration.

* * * * *

In his comprehensive plan of government Hamilton included a financial
institution to develop the