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9. The stockholders may vote for directors in person or by proxy; but no stockholder, who is not resident within the United States at the time of election, shall vote by proxy; nor shall any one person vote as proxy a greater number of votes than he would be entitled to vote in his own right, according to a scale of voting to be graduated by the number of shares which the voters respectively hold.

10. The bank and its several branches, or the State banks employed as branches, shall furnish the officer at the head of the Treasury Department with statements of their officers, in such form and at such period as shall be required.

IV. The privileges and duties of the bank.

1. The bank shall enjoy the usual privileges, and be subject to the usual restrictions of a body corporate and politic, instituted for such purposes, and the forgery of its notes shall be made penal.

2. The notes of the bank shall be receivable in all payments to the United States, unless Congress shall hereafter otherwise provide by law.

3. The bank and its branches, and State banks employed as branches, shall give the necessary aid and facility to the Treasury for transferring the public funds from place to place, and for making payments to the public creditors, without charging commissions, or claiming allowances on account of differences of exchange, &c.

V. The organization and operation of the bank.

1. Subscriptions to be opened with as little delay as possible, and at as few places as shall be deemed just and convenient. The commissioners may be named in the act or be appointed by the President.

2. The bank to be organized and commence its operations in specie as soon as the sum of $1,400,000 has been actually received from the subscriptions in gold and silver.

3. The bank shall not at any time suspend its specie payments, unless the same shall be previously authorized by Congress, if in session, or by the President of the United States if Congress be not in session. In the latter case the suspension shall continue for six weeks after the meeting of Congress, and no longer, unless authorized by law.

VI. The bonus for the charter of the bank

The subscribers to the bank shall pay a premium to the Government for its charter. Estimating the profits of the bank from the probable advance in the value of its stock, and the result of its business when in full operation at 7 per cent., a bonus of $1,500,000 payable in equal instalments of two, three, and four years, after the bank commences its operations, might, under all circumstances, be considered as about 4 per cent. upon its capital, and would constitute a reasonable premium.

Act of April 10, 18161

[3 Statutes at Large 266, Fourteenth Congress, Chapter 44, 1st Session, Approved April 10, 1816, by James Madison]

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE BANK OF
THE UNITED STATES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That a bank of the United States of America shall be established, with a capital of thirty-five millions dollars, divided into three hundred and fifty thousand shares, of one hundred dollars each share. Seventy thousand shares, amounting to the sum of seven millions of dollars, part of the capital of the said bank, shall be subscribed and paid for by the United States, in the manner hereinafter specified; and two hundred and eighty thousand shares, amounting to the sum of twenty-eight millions of dollars, shall be subscribed and paid for by individuals, companies, or corporations, in the manner hereinafter specified.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That subscriptions for the sum of twenty-eight millions of dollars, toward constituting the capital of the said bank, shall be opened on the first Monday in July next, at the following places: that is to say, at Portland, in the District of Maine; at Portsmouth, in the state of New Hampshire; at Boston, in the state of Massachusetts; at Providence, in the state of Rhode Island; at Middletown, in the state of Connecticut; at Burlington, in the state of Vermont; at New York, in the state of New York; at New Brunswick, in the state of New Jersey; at Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania; at Wilmington, in the state of Delaware; at Baltimore, in the state of Maryland; at Richmond, in the state of Virginia; at Lexington, in the state of Kentucky; at Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio; at Raleigh, in the state of North Carolina; at Nashville, in the state of Tennessee; at Charleston, in the state of South Carolina; at Augusta, in the state of Georgia; at New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana; and at Washington, in the district of Columbia. And the said subscriptions shall be opened under the superintendence of five commissioners at Philadelphia, and of three commissioners at each of the other places aforesaid, to be appointed by the President of the United States, who is hereby authorized to make such appointments, and shall contínue open every day, from the time of opening the same, between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon and four o'clock in the afternoon, for the term of twenty days, exclusive of Sundays, when the same shall be closed, and immediately thereafter the commissioners, or any two of them, at the respective places aforesaid, shall cause two transcripts or copies of such subscriptions to be made, one of which

1 Editor's note: See p. 417.

A bank of the with a capital of 35,000,000

United States,

dollars, &c.

Places, &c. subscriptions.

for receiving

Places, &c.
for receiving
subscriptions,

&c.

Regulations concerning subscriptions and payments on

them, &c.

they shall send to the Secretary of the Treasury, one they shall retain, and the original they shall transmit, within seven days from the closing of the subscriptions as aforesaid, to the commissioners at Philadelphia aforesaid. And on the receipt of the said original subscriptions, or of either of the said copies thereof, if the original be lost, mislaid, or detained, the commissioners at Philadelphia aforesaid, or a majority of them, shall immediately thereafter convene, and proceed to take an account of the said subscriptions. And if more than the amount of twenty-eight millions of dollars shall have been subscribed, then the said last mentioned commissioners shall deduct the amount of such excess from the largest subscriptions, in such manner as that no subscription shall be reduced in amount, while any one remains larger: Provided, That if the subscriptions taken at either of the places aforesaid shall not exceed three thousand shares, there shall be no reduction of such subscriptions, nor shall, in any case, the subscriptions taken at either of the places aforesaid be reduced below that amount. And in case the aggregate amount of the said subscriptions shall exceed twenty-eight millions of dollars, the said last mentioned commissioners, after having apportioned the same as aforesaid, shall cause lists of the said apportioned subscriptions, to be made out, including in each list the apportioned subscription for the place where the original subscription was made, one of which lists they shall transmit to the commissioners or one of them, under whose superintendence such subscriptions were originally made, that the subscribers may thereby ascertain the number of shares to them respectively apportioned as aforesaid. And in case the aggregate amount of the said subscriptions made during the period aforesaid, at all the places aforesaid, shall not amount to twenty-eight millions of dollars, the subscriptions to complete the said sum shall be and remain open at Philadelphia aforesaid, under the superintendence of the commissioners appointed for that place; and the subscriptions may be then made by any individual, company, or corporation, for any number of shares, not exceeding, in the whole, the amount required to complete the said sum of twenty-eight millions of dollars.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted. That it shall be lawful for any individual, company, corporation, or state, when the subscriptions shall be opened as herein before directed, to subscribe for any number of shares of the capital of the said bank, not exceeding three thousand shares, and the sums so subscribed shall be payable, and paid, in the manner following; that is to say, seven million dollars thereof in gold or silver coin of the United States, or in gold coin of Spain, or the dominions of Spain, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twentyeight grains and sixty hundredths of a grain of the ac

tual weight thereof, or in other foreign gold or silver coin at the several rates prescribed by the first section of an act regulating the currency of foreign coins in the United States, passed tenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and six, and twenty-one millions of dollars thereof in like gold or silver coin, or in the funded debt of the United States contracted at the time of the subscriptions respectively. And the payments made in the funded debt of the United States, shall be paid and received at the following rates: that is to say, the funded debt bearing an interest of six per centum per annum, at the nominal or par value thereof; the funded debt bearing an interest of three per centum per annum, at the rate of sixty-five dollars for every sum of one hundred dollars of the nominal amount thereof; and the funded debt bearing an interest of seven per centum per annum, at the rate of one hundred and six dollars and fifty-one cents, for every sum of one hundred dollars of the nominal amount thereof; together with the amount of the interest accrued on the said several denominations of funded debt, to be computed and allowed to the time of subscribing the same to the capital of the said bank as aforesaid. And the payments of the said subscriptions shall be made and completed by the subscribers, respectively, at the times and in the manner following; that is to say, at the time of subscribing there shall be paid five dollars on each share, in gold or silver coin as aforesaid, and twenty-five dollars more in coin as aforesaid, or in funded debt as aforesaid; at the expiration of six calendar months after the time of subscribing, there shall be paid the further sum of ten dollars on each share, in gold or silver coin as aforesaid, and twenty-five dollars more in coin as aforesaid, or in funded debt as aforesaid; at the expiration of twelve calendar months from the time of subscribing, there shall be paid the further sum of ten dollars on each share, in gold or silver coin as aforesaid, and twenty-five dollars more, in coin as aforesaid, or in funded debt as aforesaid.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That at the time of subscribing to the capital of the said bank as aforesaid each and every subscriber shall deliver to the commissioners, at the place of subscribing, as well the amount of their subscriptions respectively in coin as aforesaid, as the certificates of funded debt, for the funded debt proportions of their respective subscriptions, together with a power of attorney, authorizing the said commissioners, or a majority of them, to transfer the said stock in due form of law to "the president, directors, and company, of the bank of the United States," as soon as the said bank shall be organized. Provided always, That if, in consequence of the apportionment of the shares in the capital of the said bank among the subscribers, in the case, and in the manner, hereinbefore provided, any subscriber

Regulations scriptions and payments on

concerning sub

them, &c.

Reasonable
compensation
to the commis-
sioners.

The United
States may

redeem the
funded debt,
&c. and the
bank may sell
for gold and
silver, &c.

The Secretary
of the Treasury
to subscribe on
behalf of the
United States,
&c.

shall have delivered to the commissioners, at the time of subscribing, a greater amount of gold or silver coin and funded debt than shall be necessary to complete the payments for the share or shares to such subscribers, apportioned as aforesaid, the commissioners shall only retain so much of the said gold or silver coin, and funded debt, as shall be necessary to complete such payments, and shall, forthwith, return the surplus thereof, on application for the same, to the subscribers lawfully entitled thereto. And the commissioners, respectively, shall deposit the gold and silver coin, and certificates of public debt by them respectively received as aforesaid from the subscribers to the capital of the said bank, in some place of secure and safe keeping, so that the same may and shall be specifically delivered and transferred, as the same were by them respectively received, to the president, directors, and company, of the bank of the United States, or to their order, as soon as shall be required after the organization of the said bank. And the said commissioners appointed to superintend the subscriptions to the capital of the said bank as aforesaid, shall receive a reasonable compensation for their services respectively, and shall be allowed all reasonable charges and expenses incurred in the execution of their trust, to be paid by the president, directors, and company, of the bank, out of the funds thereof.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the United States to pay and redeem the funded debt subscribed to the capital of the said bank at the rates aforesaid, in such sums, and at such times, as shall be deemed expedient, any thing in any act or acts of Congress to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. And it shall also be lawful for the president, directors, and company, of the said bank, to sell and transfer for gold and silver coin, or bullion, the funded debt subscribed to the capital of the said bank as aforesaid: Provided always, That they shall not sell more thereof than the sum of two millions of dollars in any one year; nor sell any part thereof at any time within the United States, without previously giving notice of their intention to the Secretary of the Treasury, and offering the same to the United States for the period of fifteen days, at least, at the current price, not exceeding the rates aforesaid.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That at the opening of subscription to the capital stock of the said bank, the Secretary of the Treasury shall subscribe, or cause to be subscribed, on behalf of the United States, the said number of seventy thousand shares, amounting to seven millions of dollars as aforesaid, to be paid in gold or silver coin, or in stock of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of five per centum per annum; and if payment thereof, or of any part thereof, be made in public stock, bearing interest as aforesaid, the said interest shall be

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