Bank Timeline
Beginning in 1791
1791 Bank of the U.S.
Alexander Hamilton, George Washington's Secretary of Treasury, suggested that the United States would benefit from a national bank which was inspired by the Bank of England. There was controversy over whether the bank was constitutional, however it was instated anyways.
1816 Second Bank of U.S.
When the First Bank expired in 1811, there wasn't an original push for it to be reinstated. Although, after the War of 1812 there was a sudden need for a national bank because of the lack of funding for the war, so James Madison chartered in the Second Bank of the U.S. based on Alexander Hamilton's first National Bank in 1816.
Civil War
During the civil war, the government began printing paper money that they called greenbacks. Since he government needed a way to fund the war, they began printing out the greenbacks for funding. The increase in printed money caused a great inflation throughout both the Union and the Confederacy.
1863 National Banking Act
The National Banking Act of 1863 was an attempt to assert a degree of control over the banking system without forming of another central bank. The Act had three primary purposes: (1) create a system of national banks, (2) to create a national currency, and (3) to create an active secondary market to help finance the Civil War (for the Union's side).
1913 Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve act created and established the Federal Reserve System, which is the the central banking system of the United States, and granted it the legal authority to issue U.S. dollars and Federal Reserve Bank Notes.
1930's Great Depression
A significant part of the Great Depression was the large amount of bank closures which took place. By 1933, 9,000 banks had already closed which was causing the flow of money to become less circulated and resulted in a reduced purchase power of the consumer.
Glass-Steagall Banking Act
Made in 1933, the Glass-Steagall Banking Act was in response to the accusation that banks were being sloppy in the pre-Depression era by taking to many risks and investing too highly in certain areas. The Act narrowed down banks focuses and also limited their power in order to prevent/fix the Great Depression.
The 1970s
In the '70s economic growth is weak, which resulted in rising unemployment. The easy-money policies of the American central bank, originally designed to generate full employment, also caused an immense inflation. Many people blame different sources for the inflation, but the real cause was monetary policies, which financed large budget deficits and were supported by political leaders.
1982
Congress allows banks to make high risk loans and investments, which failed utterly causing banks to crash with high debts reaching into the billions. The Federal government were forced to give the money back causing an overall debt.
1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which is also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, is a federal law enacted to control the ways that financial institutions deal with the private information of citizens. The Act consists of three sections: The Financial Privacy Rule, that regulates the collection and disclosure of private information; the Safeguards Rule, which requires that financial institutions must enforce security programs to protect information; and the Pretexting provisions, which prohibit the practice of accessing private information with false pretenses.