But in
those days there were but three banks in the Union, and each had been
established against violent opposition, Hamilton, in particular, having
carried the Bank of New York through by unremitting personal effort. The
average man preferred his stocking. Representatives from backwoods
districts were used to such circulating mediums as military warrants,
guard certificates, horses, cattle, cow-bells, land, and whiskey. They
looked askance at a bank as a sort of whirlpool into which wealth would
disappear, and bolt out at the bottom into the pockets of a few
individuals who understood what was beyond the average intellect. But by
far the most disquieting objection brought forward against this plan of
the Secretary's was its alleged unconstitutionality.
Monroe, although a new man, and speaking seldom, exerted a systematic
opposition in the Senate, and Madison, in the House, argued, with
lucidity and persistence, that the Constitution had no power to grant a
charter to any such institution as the Secretary proposed. Others argued
that the success of this new scheme would infringe upon the rights of
the States, and still others thundered the everlasting accusations of
monarchical design.
Pages:
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665