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11. THE FIRST BANK OF THE UNITED STATES I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our In 1790, less than three years after the Constitution had been Constitution, taking from the federal government the power signed, the Money Changers struck again. The newly appointed of borrowing. first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, proposed a President Adams denounced the issuance of private banknotes bill to the Congress, calling for a new privately owned central as a fraud upon the public. He was supported in this view by all bank. conservative opinion of his time. Why continue to farm out to Coincidentally, that was the very year that Mayer Rothschild private banks, for nothing, a prerogative of government? made his pronouncement from his flagship bank in Frankfurt: Millions of Americans feel the same way today. They watch in Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who helpless frustration as the federal government borrows the writes its laws. American taxpayer into oblivion—borrowing, from private banks Alexander Hamilton was a tool of the international bankers. He and the rich, the money the government has the authority and duty wanted to create another private central bank, the Bank of the to issue itself, without debt. United States, and did so. He convinced Washington to sign the So, although it was called the First Bank of the United States, it bill, despite Washington's reservations and Jefferson's and was not the first attempt at a privately owned central bank in the Madison's opposition. US. As with the first two, the Bank of England and the Bank of To win over Washington, Hamilton developed the "implied North America, the government put up the cash to get this private powers" argument used so often since to eviscerate the bank going, then the bankers lent that money to each other to buy Constitution. Jefferson correctly predicted the dire consequences the remaining stock in the bank. of opening such a Pandora's box It was a scam, plain and simple—and which would allow judges to they wouldn't be able to get away with "imply" whatever they wished. it for long. Interestingly, one of Hamilton's first jobs after graduating from law | Napoleon declared that when a 12, NAPOLEON'S RISE TO school in 1782 was as an aide to A POWER IN FRANCE Robert Morris, the head of the Bank government Is dependent upon Next we have to travel back to of North America. In fact, the year bankers for money, the Europe to see how a single man was before, Hamilton had written Morris able to manipulate the entire British a letter, saying: bankers—not the leaders of the economy by obtaining the first news A national debt, if it is not government—are in control. of Napoleon's final defeat. excessive, will be to us a nation - In Paris in 1800, the Bank of France al blessing. was organised, along similar lines to A "blessing" to whom? the Bank of England. But Napoleon After a year of intense debate, in decided France had to break free of 1791 Congress passed Hamilton's ban! debt. He never trusted the Bank of bill and gave it a 20-year charter. The new bank was to be called — France, even when he put some of his own relatives on the gov- the First Bank of the United States, or BUS. Thus the Third erning board. American Bank War began. Napoleon declared that when a government is dependent upon The First Bank of the United States was headquartered in bankers for money, the bankers—not the leaders of the govern- Philadelphia. The bank was given authority to print currency and ment—are in control: make loans based on fractional reserves, even though 80 per cent The hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has of its stock would be held by private investors. The other 20 per no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and cent would be purchased by the US Government, but the reason without decency: their sole object is gain. was not to give the government a piece of the action: it was to He clearly saw the dangers, but did not see the proper safe- provide the initial capital for the other 80 per cent owners. guards or solution. As with the old Bank of North America and the Bank of Back in America, unexpected help was about to arrive. In England before that, the stockholders never paid the full amount 1800, Thomas Jefferson narrowly defeated John Adams to for their shares. The US Government put up its initial $2,000,000 become the third President of the United States. By 1803, in cash; then the bank, through the old magic of fractional reserve Jefferson and Napoleon had struck a deal. The US would give lending, made loans to its charter investors so they could come up — Napoleon $3,000,000 in gold, in exchange for a huge chunk of with the remaining $8,000,000 in capital needed for this risk-free territory west of the Mississippi River: the Louisiana Purchase. investment. With that three million dollars in gold, Napoleon quickly forged As with the Bank of England, the name of the bank—the Bank —_an army and set off across Europe, conquering everything in his of the United States—was deliberately chosen to hide the fact that path. But England and the Bank of England quickly rose to it was privately controlled. And, as in the case of the Bank of oppose him. They financed every nation in his path, reaping the England, the names of the investors in the bank were never enormous profits of war. Prussia, Austria and finally Russia all revealed. went heavily into debt in a futile attempt to stop Napoleon. The bank was promoted to Congress as a way to bring stability Four years later, with the main French Army in Russia, thirty- to the banking system and to eliminate inflation. So what hap- year-old Nathan Rothschild—the head of the London office of the pened? Over the first five years, the US Government borrowed Rothschild family—personally took charge of a bold plan to $8.2 million from the First Bank of the United States. In that smuggle a much-needed shipment of gold right through France to period, prices rose by 72 per cent. finance an attack from Spain by Britain's Duke of Wellington. Jefferson, the new Secretary of State, watched the borrowing Nathan later bragged at a dinner party in London that it was the with sadness and frustration, unable to stop it: best business he'd ever done. He made money on each step of the bankers for money, the bankers—not the leaders of the NEXUS 15 11. THE FIRST BANK OF THE UNITED STATES Napoleon declared that when a government is dependent upon government—are in control. FEBRUARY — MARCH 1999