THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA OPENS IN PHILADELPHIA

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the Bank of North America, the first chartered bank in the United States, that was opened in Philadelphia on a day like today in 1782.

The Bank of North America was the first chartered bank in the United States, and served as the country's first de facto central bank.

Chartered by the Congress of the Confederation on May 26, 1781, and opened in Philadelphia on January 7, 1782, it was based upon a plan presented by Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris on May 17, 1781, based on recommendations by Revolutionary era figure Alexander Hamilton.

Although Hamilton later noted its essential contribution to the war effort, the Pennsylvania government objected to its privileges and reincorporated it under state law, making it unsuitable as a national bank under the federal Constitution. Instead Congress chartered a new bank, the First Bank of the United States, in 1791, while the Bank of North America continued as a private concern.

In May 1781, Alexander Hamilton revealed that he had recommended 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. Second, he proceeded to lay out a proposal for a national bank that would also serve as a de facto central bank. Morris, who had corresponded with Hamilton previously on the subject of funding the war, 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. His friend, Dr. Hugh Shiell, paid £5000 to the capital stock.

More information: Philadelphia Encyclopedia

By 1783, Congress and several states including Massachusetts enacted legislation, allowing Americans to pay public dues with Bank of North America notes, giving them a crucial aspect of legal tender.

In the economic turmoil that followed the Revolutionary War, the bank's strictness in collecting debts drew opposition from Pennsylvania residents, who petitioned the General Assembly to revoke the state charter granted to it in 1782. This was done in 1785, although the bank continued to operate with difficulty under its congressional charter and then under a Delaware charter.

The following year the Assembly granted a new charter with several restrictions, including that it could not trade any merchandise other than bullion.

The Bank of North America, along with the First Bank of the United States and the Bank of New York were the first shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

After the passage of the National Bank Act in 1862, the Bank of North America converted its business to operate under the new law. Its unique history presented a problem: the act required a national bank to include the word national in its name.

The bank's management considered its original name a matter of prestige and took the position that the name remained fixed by the Confederation and state charters. The Comptroller of the Currency chose not to press these legal questions and admitted the bank without a name change.

The bank merged in 1923 with the Commercial Trust Company to become the Bank of North America and Trust Company, which merged in 1929 with the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities. That company (as the Pennsylvania Company for Banking and Trust) merged with the First National Bank (Philadelphia) in 1955 to become The First Pennsylvania Banking and Trust Company. This was later acquired by CoreStates Financial Corporation (1991), First Union/Wachovia (1998) and Wells Fargo (2008).

More information: Library of Congress

It is not the style of clothes one wears,
neither the kind of automobile one drives,
nor the amount of money one has in the bank,
that counts. These mean nothing.
It is simply service that measures success.

George Washington Carver