towards constituting the said stock, shall, on the first Monday of April next, be opened at the city of Philadelphia, under the superintendence of such persons, not less than three, as shall be appointed for that purpose by the President of the United States (who is hereby empowered to appoint the said persons accordingly);Act of March 2, 1791, ch. 11. which subscriptions shall continue open, until the whole of the said stock shall have been subscribed.[1]
By whom to be subscribed.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any person, co-partnership, or body politic, to subscribe for such or so many shares, as he, she, or they shall think fit, not exceeding one thousand, except as shall be hereafter directed relatively to the United States; and that the sums, respectively subscribed,Proportions of gold and silver and the public debt to be subscribed, and except on behalf of the United States, shall be payable one fourth in gold and silver, and three fourths in that part of the public debt, which, according to the loan proposed in the fourth and fifteenth sections of the act, entitled “An act making provision for the debt of the United States,” shall bear an accruing interest, at the time of payment, of six per centum per annum, and shall also be payable in four equal parts, in the aforesaid ratio of specie to debt, when to be paid.at the distance of six calendar months from each other; the first whereof shall be paid at the time of subscription.
Subscribers to be a body politic.
By what name and how long to continue.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all those, who shall become subscribers to the said bank, their successors and assigns, shall be, and are hereby created and made a corporation and body politic, by the name and style of The President, Directors and Company, of the Bank the United States; and shall so continue, until the fourth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and eleven: And by that name, shall be, and are hereby made able and capable in law, toPowers. have, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy, and retain to them and their successors, lands, rents, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels and effects of what kind, nature or quality soever, to an amount, not exceeding in the whole fifteen millions of dollars,Limitation of stock. including the amount of the capital stock aforesaid; and the same to sell, grant, demise, aliene or dispose of; to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered, defend and be defended, in courts of record, or any other place whatsoever: And alsoTo have a seal,
and establish by-laws. to make, have, and use a common seal, and the same to break, alter and renew, at their pleasure; and also to ordain, establish, and put in execution, such by-laws, ordinances and regulations, as shall seem necessary and convenient for the government of the said corporation, not being contrary to law, or to the constitution thereof (for which purpose, general meetings of the stockholders shall and may be called by the directors, and in the manner herein after specified), and generally to do and execute all and singular acts, matters and things, which to them it shall or may appertain to do; subject nevertheless to the rules, regulations, restrictions, limitations and provisions herein after prescribed and declared.
- ↑ Congress has power to incorporate a bank; and the act of April 10, 1816, to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States, is a law made in pursuance of the constitution. M‘Culloch v. The State of Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316; 4 Cond. Rep. 466.
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The Bank of the United States has constitutionally a right to establish branches or offices of discount and deposit within any state. Ibid.
A state cannot tax the Bank of the United States, and any attempt by the officers or courts of the state to enforce a law laying a tax upon the property of the Bank, may be restrained by injunction. Osborne v. The Bank of the United States, 9 Wheat. 738; 5 Cond. Rep. 741.
