page_title: Bank of North America
section_title: Congressional charter
hierarchical_section_title: Bank of North America / History / Congressional charter
caption_attribution_description: English: Three pence Colonial currency from the Province of Pennsylvania. Engraved signature of Trench Francis. Printed by Benjamin Franklin Bache on specialized paper acquired by Benjamin Franklin.
context_page_description: The Bank of North America was a private national bank which served as the United States' first de facto central bank. Chartered by the Continental Congress on May 26, 1781, and opened in Philadelphia on January 7, 1782, it was based upon a plan presented by US Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris on May 17, 1781, based on recommendations by Revolutionary era figure Alexander Hamilton. Failing to gain and maintain sufficient long term traction in that role, it was succeeded by the also privately held First Bank of the United States in 1791.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: Three pence issued by the Bank of North America, 6 August 1789. Printed by Benjamin Franklin Bache on marbled paper obtained by Benjamin Franklin.[6]
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2616", "Image ImageLength": "3864", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "800", "Image YResolution": "800", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2014:04:02 00:34:58", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "394", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9111", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2322", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3536"}