National Banking Act

The National Bank Act (before the renaming in 1874 was called the National Currency Act ) ^{[1] [2]} ) - a law passed on February 25, 1863, which laid the foundation for the creation of a system in the USA national banks ^[3] .

First National Bank of Philadelphia

The issuance of banknotes in the United States before the adoption of the law was not regulated by federal law. Banknote issuance activities were regulated in each state by their own laws. State banks could issue any number of banknotes that were not secured by the bank. In addition, banknotes were often counterfeited, and bank tickets issued by more reliable banks were purchased and exchanged at a discount. That is, the law was originally aimed at creating a single national currency in the country ^[2] .

In accordance with the law, national banks were authorized to issue national currency. Issued banknotes had a uniform appearance ^[2] . In order to obtain the right to issue bank tickets, national banks were required to transfer a certain amount to the US Treasury depending on their capital in the form of registered bonds of the US Government, bringing interest ^[1] . The relationship between bank capital, bonds and the issuance of banknotes was changed by laws in 1874, 1882 and 1900 ^[2] .

Neither the law in its original form, nor subsequent amendments prohibited the issuance of banknotes by state banks or their circulation. At the same time, in February 1865, the federal government introduced on August 1, 1866 a 10 percent tax on the issuance of banknotes by state banks and payments made by these banknotes. The severity of this law led to the fact that state banknotes gradually disappeared from circulation. With the adoption of the Federal Reserve Law on December 23, 1913, which provided for the issuance of bank notes by federal reserve banks , the share of banknotes of national banks began to decline ^[3] .