The Bank of the United States The Bank of the United States is a symbol of America's long-standing fear of centralization and government control. The bank was an attempt to bring stability and control and it succeeded. However, both times the bank was founded, forces within the economy ultimately destroyed it. The fear of centralization and control was ultimately harmful to the US economy. During the Revolutionary War there was a great need for a strong centralized government that would be able to collect taxes. States were able to issue currency and the government accepted it in exchange for coins. Species were very difficult to find in the colonies, and most states relied on foreign currency such as Spanish coins to back their currencies. The Continental Congress issued a Continental currency in 1775, but due to a lack of confidence in the currency, its value rapidly declined and prices skyrocketed. They were abandoned in 1781. If not for a massive loan from the French, the war would have ended in bankruptcy. During the Articles of Confederation period, each state could issue its own currency. The lack of national currency in the United States led to exchange problems between states and also made trade difficult for the United States. Alexander Hamilton first created the First Bank of the United States in 1791 to address these problems. It had trouble getting through Congress because of the debate over whether the government has the power to form a central bank. President Washington signed the bank's charter, not because he wanted a central bank, but because he believed it was necessary. At the time the first bank was......paper medium......rations of the regional banks. The bill in force at the time has undergone numerous changes and the system adopted then is very different from the current one. Over the years, the system has increasingly moved towards greater centralization and control. As can be seen, state banks' fear of centralization and long-standing opposition to federalization have had an enormously detrimental effect on the American economy. On numerous occasions it leads to instability, inflation, banking panics and near government failure. The unique system the United States has today is a balance between centralization and local control. This stems from the first attempts at organization that were the First and Second Banks of the United States and the forces that destroyed them. All this leads to the balance of the system that can be seen today.