US Presidency
1832

These surplus powers for which the bank is required to pay can not surely be necessary to make it the fiscal agent of the Treasury. If they were, the exaction of a bonus for them would not be proper. It is maintained by some that the bank is a means of executing the constitutional power to coin money and regulate the value thereof. Congress have established a mint to coin money and passed laws to regulate the value thereof. The money so coined, with its value so regulated, and such foreign coins as Congress may adopt are the only currency known to the Constitution. But if they have other power to regulate the currency, it was conferred to be exercised by themselves, and not to be transferred to a corporation. If the bank be established for that purpose, with a charter unalterable without its consent, Congress have parted with their power for a term of years, during which the Constitution is a dead letter.