First Bank of the United States
The
First Bank of the United States was proposed by
Alexander Hamilton to relieve the war debt from the
United States Revolutionary War and develop a national currency. Housed in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (in Carpenter's Hall for several years) when that city was capital, it was chartered in
1791 for 20 years, and thus expired in
1811. It followed the
Bank of North America and it was succeeded by the
Second Bank of the United States. Many people at the time questioned both the constitutionality and necessity of this institution.
