Editing Bank of North America (section)

== Revolutionary war period ==
=== Congressional charter ===
[[File:US-Colonial (PA-274)-Pennsylvania-6 Aug 1789.jpg|thumb|Three pence issued by the Bank of North America on August 6, 1789, printed by [[Benjamin Franklin Bache (journalist)|Benjamin Franklin Bache]] on marbled paper obtained by [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Newman|first1=Eric P.|title=Early Paper Money of America|date=November 28, 2008|publisher=KP Books|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-0896893269|page=364|edition=5th}}<!-- |access-date=17 March 2016 --></ref>]]
In May 1781, [[Alexander Hamilton]] revealed that he had recommended [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] for the position of [[Superintendent of Finance of the United States]] the previous summer when the constitution of the [[Articles of Confederation]]-era executive was being solidified. He also proceeded to lay out a proposal for a national bank that would serve as a ''de facto'' [[central bank]]. 

Morris corresponded with Hamilton previously on the subject of funding the war, and immediately drafted a legislative proposal based on Hamilton's suggestion and submitted it to the Congress. Morris persuaded Congress to charter the Bank of North America, the first private commercial bank in the United States.<ref name="Knox">{{cite book|last1=Knox|first1=John Jay|editor1-last=Rhodes|editor1-first=Bradford|editor2-last=Youngman|editor2-first=Elmer Haskell|title=A History of Banking in the United States|date=1900|publisher=B. Rhodes & Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/ahistorybanking01knoxgoog/page/n76 40]|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorybanking01knoxgoog|access-date=March 17, 2016}}</ref> His friend, Dr. [[Hugh Shiell]], paid £5000 to the capital stock.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Joseph Smith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uDIDwAAQBAJ&dq=Hugh+Shiell&pg=PA27 |title=Record of the Harris family descended from John Harris, born in 1680 in Wiltshire, England |date=January 1, 1903 |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |language=en}}</ref>

=== Stock offering ===
The original charter as outlined by Hamilton called for the disbursement of 1,000 shares priced at $400 each.<ref>{{Harvnb|Alberts|1969|page=[https://archive.org/details/goldenvoyageli00albe/page/n129 106]}}</ref> Benjamin Franklin purchased a single token share as a sign of good faith to [[Federalists]] and their new bank. Hamilton used his pseudonym  "Publius", later immortalized in the [[Federalist Papers]] advocating in the late 1780s for adoption of the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]], to endorse the bank.<ref>{{Cite book |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=AA49EEZWA0IC&pg=PA55 55] |title=The Papers of Alexander Hamilton |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1962 |isbn=978-0-231-08905-0 |editor-last=Syrett |editor-first=Harold Coffin |editor-link=Harold Coffin Syrett |editor-last2=Cooke |editor-first2=Jacob Ernest}}</ref>

[[William Bingham]], rumored to be the richest man in America after the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Alberts|1969|pages=[https://archive.org/details/goldenvoyagelife00albe/page/435 435]}}</ref> purchased 9.5% of the available shares. The greatest share, however, 63.3%, was purchased on behalf of the United States government by Robert Morris, using a gift in the form of a loan from [[Kingdom of France|France]] and a loan from [[Netherlands]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alberts |first=Robert C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBd3AAAAMAAJ |title=The Golden Voyage: The Life and Times of William Bingham, 1752–1804 |date=1969 |publisher=Houghton-Mifflin |oclc=563689565 |access-date=March 17, 2016}}</ref> This had the effect of capitalizing the bank with large deposits of gold and silver coin and [[bills of exchange]]. He then issued new paper currency backed by this supply.<ref name="Dowgin">{{Cite book |last=Dowgin |first=Christopher |title=Sub Rosa |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-986-26102-2 |page=83}}</ref>

=== Officers ===
[[Thomas Willing]], who served two terms as [[mayor of Philadelphia]] and was a partner with Morris in an import-export firm that once dominated the city's [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trade]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Fischer|first=David Hackett|year=2022|title=African Founders|page=220}}</ref> was named the bank's first president.  He held that office from 1781 to 1791, being succeeded by [[John Nixon (financier)|John Nixon]], and moving immediately on to become the first president of the [[First Bank of the United States]], a position he held from 1791 to 1807.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000556 |title= WILLING, Thomas, (1731–1821) |access-date=June 11, 2009 |date=June 11, 2009 |work=Biographical Information of the United States Congress |publisher=US Congress}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433016182630&view=1up&seq=107 |title=National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |year=1898 |publisher=James T. White & Co. |page=83}}</ref>

=== Banknotes ===
The bank issued its own notes that superseded the troubled [[Continental currency]] bills. These notes were printed on paper with colored fibers pressed into the [[Obverse and reverse|reverse]] side as an anti-counterfeiting measure. Unlike the Continental bills, the new notes carried a promise to pay silver on demand. Despite these changes, the bank had difficulty at first persuading people of its good credit, and at one point it employed repossessors to follow people who redeemed notes and urge them to deposit the money back. To promote the impression that it had a large reserve, the bank made a show of moving cash boxes to and from its cellar. Once the stock was fully subscribed and paid, doubts subsided and the notes rose to [[par value]].<ref name="Lewis"/> By 1783, several states including [[Massachusetts]] enacted legislation allowing Americans to pay taxes with Bank of North America notes,<ref>{{Harvnb|Alberts|1969|page=111}}</ref> giving them a crucial aspect of [[legal tender]].