First Bank of the United States

The First Bank of the United States was proposed by Alexander Hamilton to relieve the war debt from the United States Revolutionary War and develop a national currency. Housed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (in Carpenter's Hall for several years) when that city was capital, it was chartered in 1791 for 20 years, and thus expired in 1811. It followed the Bank of North America and it was succeeded by the Second Bank of the United States. Many people at the time questioned both the constitutionality and necessity of this institution.