Second Bank of the United States
About this property
The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized National Bank in the United States, chartered under the Madison administration. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was authorized from February 1816 to January 1836. The bank's formal name, according to section 9 of its charter as passed by Congress, was "The President, Directors, and Company, of the Bank of the United States". While other banks in the United States were chartered by and only allowed to have branches in a single state, it was authorized to have branches in multiple states and lend money to the U.S. Government. A private corporation with public duties, the bank handled all fiscal transactions for the U.S. government, and was accountable to Congress and the U.S. Treasury. Twenty percent of its capital was owned by the federal government, the bank's single largest stockholder. Four thousand private investors held 80 percent of the bank's capital, including three thousand Europeans. The bulk of the stocks were held by a few hundred wealthy Americans. In its time, the institution was the largest monied corporation in the world. The essential function of the bank was to regulate the public credit issued by private banking institutions through the fiscal duties it performed for the U.S. Treasury, and to establish a sound and stable national currency. The federal deposits endowed the bank with its regulatory capacity. Modeled on Alexander Hamilton's First Bank of the United States, the Second Bank was chartered in 1816 by President James Madison – who in 1791 had attacked the First Bank as unconstitutional – and began operations at its main branch in Philadelphia on January 7, 1817, managing 25 branch offices nationwide by 1832. The efforts to renew the bank's charter put the institution at the center of the general election of 1832, in which the bank's president Nicholas Biddle and pro-bank National Republicans led by Henry Clay clashed with the "hard-money" Andrew Jackson administration and eastern banking interests in the Bank War. Failing to secure recharter, the Second Bank became a private corporation in 1836, and underwent liquidation in 1841. There would not be national banks again until the passage of the National Bank Act in 1863–1864.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Second Bank of the United States listed on the National Register?
Second Bank of the United States was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1987.
What type of historic resource is Second Bank of the United States?
Second Bank of the United States is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
Is Second Bank of the United States a National Historic Landmark?
Yes. Second Bank of the United States has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.
What is the period of significance for Second Bank of the United States?
The period of significance for Second Bank of the United States is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Second Bank of the United States?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Second Bank of the United States will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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