kindred ideas of the latter may be seen in his Memoirs, &c., vol. iv. pp. 196, 207, 526;[1] and his view of the state banks, vol. iv. pp. 199, 220.
There are sundry statutes in Virginia, prohibiting the circulation of notes, payable to bearer, whether issued by individuals, or unchartered banks.
JAMES MADISON.
IDEAS OF MR. JEFFERSON ON BANKS;
referred to by mr. madison in the preceding letter.
[extract.]
The bill for establishing a national bank, in 1791, undertakes, among other things,—
1. To form the subscribers into a corporation.
2. To enable them, in their corporate capacities, to receive grants of lands, and, so far, is against the laws of mortmain.[2]
3. To make alien subscribers capable of holding lands; and, so far, is against the laws of alienage.
4. To transmit these lands, on the death of a proprietor, to a certain line of successors; and, so far, changes the course of descents.
5. To put the lands out of the reach of forfeiture, or escheat; and, so far, is against the laws of forfeiture and escheat.
6. To transmit personal chattels to successors, in a certain line; and, so far, is against the laws of distribution.
7. To give them the sole and exclusive right of banking, under the national authority; and, so far, is against the laws of monopoly.
8. To communicate to them a power to make laws, paramount to the laws of the states; for so they must be construed, to protect the institution from the control of the state legislatures; and so, probably, they will be construed.
I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground—that all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, or to the people, (12th amend.) To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.
The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States by the Constitution.
- ↑ Extract from President Jackson's Message of December 7, 1830.—"It becomes us to inquire, whether it be not possible to secure the advantages afforded by the present bank, through the agency of a bank of the United States, so modified, in its principles and structure, as to obviate constitutional and other objections. It is thought practicable to organize such a bank, with the necessary officers, as a blanch of the treasury department, based on the public and individual deposits, without power to make loans or purchase property, which shall remit the funds of the government, and the expenses of which may be paid, if thought advisable, by allowing its officers to sell bills of exchange to private individuals, at a moderate premium Not being a corporate body, having no stockholders, debtors, or property, and but few officers, it would not be obnoxious to the constitutional objections which are urged against the present bank; and having no means to operate on the hopes, fears, or interests, of large masses of the community, it would be shorn of the influence which makes that bank formidable. The states would be strengthened by having in their hands the means of furnishing the local paper currency through their own banks, while the Bank of the United States, though issuing no paper, would check the issues of the state banks, by taking their notes in deposit, and for exchange, only so long as they continue to be redeemed with specie."
- ↑ Though the Constitution controls the laws of mortmain so far as to permit Congress itself to hold lands for certain purposes, yet not so far as to permit them to communicate a similar right to other corporate bodies.
vol. iv.77
