George Washington's Error and the Corruption of Banking

President George Washington received a bill that would create a national bank if he didn't veto within 10 days. National-government power to print money not backed 100% by reserves of gold or silver had been voted down by Washington's Constitutional Convention by a supermajority of 9 to 2. Four short years later, Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton claimed the opposite: that the Constitution implies that the national government can create a national bank that prints fractional-reserve money. Washington ran with this, didn't veto, and instead signed the bill creating the national bank.

President Andrew Jackson received a bill that would renew the charter of a national bank that printed fractional-reserve money if he didn't veto within ten days. Jackson vetoed.

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