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FOREWORD

This volume brings together a number of major Federal banking statutes enacted from 1780 to 1912. It includes, among others, the ordinance of the Bank of North America (1781), the charters of the First and the Second Bank of the United States (1791 and 1816), the texts of the acts of 1863 and 1864, and the Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908.

In addition, the volume contains related major legislative and executive reports made during the time these banking laws were under consideration. It includes such items as the report of Alexander Hamilton on a national bank, excerpts from reports of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Secretary of the Treasury, messages of Presidents of the United States, reports of committees of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, and the report of the National Monetary Commission in 1912.

The publication was prepared in connection with the observance of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, established March 15, 1913. The contents range over significant banking laws and reports which helped to set the background against which the Senate Banking and Currency Committee was created in order to consider the proposed Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The contents also include material pertaining to the National Currency Act of 1863, the 100th anniversary of which is being celebrated this year.

These laws and reports were chosen with a view to their importance to the historical development of banking in the United States. They were also selected with a view to their relevance to issues still under debate today. Limitations of space have permitted the inclusion only of selected major laws and reports, which are illustrative rather than exhaustive in coverage. The compilation was made by Robert Moore Fisher, formerly of the committee staff.

The National Archives and the Library of Congress have been very helpful in supplying material for the volume.

In addition to the sources given in the text, other material on banking statutes and reports may be found in such sources as Laws of the United States Concerning Money, Banking, and Loans, 1778-1909, compiled by A. T. Huntington and Robert J. Mawhinney for the National Monetary Commission (S. Doc. 580, 61st Cong., 2d sess., 1910); Federal Reserve Act, 1913; McFadden Act, 1927; Banking Act of 1933; Banking Act of 1935; Bank Holding Company Act, 1956, a onevolume compilation of the House Committee on Banking and Currency (1958); and Federal Reserve Act of 1913, With Amendments and Laws Relating to Banking, compiled by Gilman G. Udell, Superintendent of Document Room, House of Representatives, Washington 25, D.C. (1958).

MARCH 15, 1963.

A. WILLIS ROBERTSON, Chairman.

CONTENTS

Act to incorporate subscribers to Bank of United States (Feb. 25,
1791, 1 Stat. 191)___

Facsimile of signatures of act of February 25, 1791.

1809-Report of Secretary of Treasury (Gallatin), on renewal of charter of

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