Editing Federal Reserve (section)

==== First Central Bank, 1791 and Second Central Bank, 1816 ====
The first U.S. institution with central banking responsibilities was the [[First Bank of the United States]], chartered by Congress and signed into law by President [[George Washington]] on February 25, 1791, at the urging of [[Alexander Hamilton]]. This was done despite strong opposition from [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[James Madison]], among numerous others. The charter was for twenty years and expired in 1811 under President Madison, when Congress refused to renew it.<ref name="boshistory">{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Roger |date=December 1999 |title=Historical Beginnings... The Federal Reserve |url=http://www.bos.frb.org/about/pubs/begin.pdf |access-date=July 23, 2010 |publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of Boston |page=8 |archive-date=December 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225064903/http://www.bos.frb.org/about/pubs/begin.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1816, however, Madison revived it in the form of the [[Second Bank of the United States]]. Years later, early renewal of the bank's charter became the primary issue in the reelection of President [[Andrew Jackson]]. After Jackson, who was opposed to the central bank, was reelected, he pulled the government's funds out of the bank. Jackson was the only President to completely pay off the national debt<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=John Steele |date=February 19, 2009 |title=A Short History of the National Debt |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123491373049303821 }}</ref> but his efforts to close the bank contributed to the [[Panic of 1837]]. The bank's charter was not renewed in 1836, and it would fully dissolve after several years as a private corporation.
From 1837 to 1862, in the [[Free Banking Era]] there was no formal central bank.
From 1846 to 1921, an [[Independent Treasury System]] ruled.
From 1863 to 1913, a system of national banks was instituted by the 1863 [[National Banking Act]] during which a series of bank panics, in [[Panic of 1873|1873]], [[Panic of 1893|1893]], and [[Panic of 1907|1907]] occurred.<ref name="FDS-H-04">{{Cite web |title=Panic of 1907: J.P. Morgan Saves the Day |url=http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h952.html |access-date=December 6, 2014 |publisher=US-history.com}}</ref><ref name="FDS-H-05">{{Cite web |title=Born of a Panic: Forming the Fed System |url=http://minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=3816 |access-date=December 6, 2014 |publisher=The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis}}</ref><ref name="FDS-H-06">{{Cite web |last=Abigail Tucker |date=October 29, 2008 |title=The Financial Panic of 1907: Running from History |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-financial-panic-of-1907-running-from-history-82176328 |access-date=December 6, 2014 |website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref>