national bank

national bank, in the United States, financial institution of a class authorized by Congress in acts of 1863 and 1864. The acts were intended to provide a way of marketing the large bond issues made necessary by the Civil War and to give circulation to a paper currency more trustworthy than the notes of state banks had proved to be. The act of 1864 authorized the formation of private banking corporations that were to invest a large part of their capital in bonds of the United States and that might then issue their notes as currency. The amount of the notes was not to exceed 90% of either the face value or the par value of the bonds, depending on which of the two was smaller. Subsequent acts modified the act of 1864 in various details, and the plan was changed fundamentally by the Federal Reserve Act of Dec. 23, 1913, which provided for the gradual substitution of Federal Reserve notes and Federal Reserve bank notes for national bank notes. The Federal Reserve Act also required all national banks to become members of the Federal Reserve System.

Bibliography

See bibliography under banking.

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national bank

In the U.S., any commercial bank chartered and supervised by the federal government and operated by private individuals. National banks were created during the Civil War under the National Bank Act of 1863 to combat financial instability caused by state banks and to help finance the war effort. When these banks purchased federal bonds and deposited them with the comptroller of the currency, they were permitted to circulate national bank notes, thereby creating a stable, uniform national currency. After the Civil War, the government began to retire the bonds issued during the war, which reduced the number of national bank notes that could be issued. Concern over the inflexibility of national bank notes led to the formation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, which all national banks were required to join. The U.S. Treasury assumed the obligation of issuing national bank notes in 1935, effectively ending the issue of money by private commercial banks.