Liberty For Life U.S. Financial Timeline
The United States Constitution dictates that the only "legal
tender" in this country is gold and silver coin (Article I, Section 10,
Clause 1).
SUMMARY OF GOVERNMENT BACKED BANKING:
1791-1811: First Bank of the United States
1816-1836: Second Bank of the United States
1837-1862: Free Banking Era -no formal central bank.
1862-1913: System of National Banks
1914-crrent: A consortium of 12 privately held banks called the Federal Reserve
Bank
1673/09/01 -- The Navigation Act of 1673 went into effect. It initiated
customs officials in colonial ports to collect duties.
1690/02/03 -- The Massachusetts Colony issued the first government authorized
paper money in the western world.
1690/12/09 -- Massachusetts colony bills of credit for soldiers were the
first official currency in America.
1765: Prior to the establishment of the United States, Blackstone said in his
commentaries: "If a man counterfeits the King's money; and if a man brings false
money into the realm counterfeit to the money of England, knowing the money to
be false." As to the first branch, counterfeiting the King's money; this is
treason, whether the false money be uttered in payment or not.
Also if the King's own ministers alter the standard of alloy established by law,
it is treason."
1765/03/22 -- The Stamp Act, the first direct tax levied by Parliament on the
colonists was passed. An economic boycott led to its repeal.
1765/10/07 -- The Stamp Act Congress met. Resolutions helped turn "Taxation
Without Representation is Tyranny" into the Revolution's slogan.
1767/06/29 -- The Townshend Acts, called "England's most fateful decision",
established a Board of Customs Commissioners in Boston.
1769/07/19 -- The sloop Liberty was scuttled while trying to enforce royal
revenue laws.
1770/04/12 -- The Townshend Acts were repealed, except for the tea tax.
1772/06/09 -- The armed British revenue schooner Gaspee was burned while
trying to enforce revenue laws.
1773/12/16 -- The Boston Tea Party occurred.
1776/07/04 -- The Declaration of Independence was approved.
1774/08/25 -- The North Carolina convention resolved to boycott British
goods.
1774/09/05 -- The First Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.
1775/06/22 -- The first issue of Continental Currency was authorized by the
Congress.
1775/07/18 -- The Continental Congress recommended that every colony form
companies of minute men.
1775/07/29 -- Michael Hillegas and George Clymer were appointed joint
treasurers of the United colonies.
1775/07/23 -- Three men were appointed to supervise the printing of $2
million in bills and 28 citizens of Philadelphia were employed by the Congress
to sign and number them.
1776/02/17 -- The Continental Congress provided for a standing committee of
five to superintend the Treasury Department. The Committee was referred to by
various names, including Board of Treasury and Treasury Office of Accounts.
1776/04/01 -- The Treasury's Office of Accounts with an Auditor General was
established by the Continental Congress, under the Standing Committee of the
Treasury.
1776/06/11 -- The Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the
Declaration of Independence.
1776/09/17: In reaction to the war with Britain, Continental Congress
entered the Model Treaty with France and Spain for the supply of weapons and
other indirect assistance, in addition to favorable commercial terms. It
served as a template for further commercial treaties
1776/10/03 -- The first domestic loan occurred. Congress approved the
Treasury Board's recommendation to borrow $5 million.
1776/10/17 -- A Committee was formed to devise a plan to regulate the
Treasury Board.
1776/12/24 -- The Treasurer of the United States was authorized to employ
persons to sign bills.
1777/09/10 -- Congress appointed a committee to prepare recommendations that
the states commence taxation.
1778/02/06: Treaty of Alliance signed with France, the first recognizing the
independence of the 13 Colonies, opened considerable coffers of King Louis XVI
in support of the American cause. Between 1778 and 1782 the French
provided supplies, arms and ammunition, uniforms, and most importantly, French
troops and naval support to the beleaguered Continental Army
1778/05/04: Ratification of the first "most favored nation" or Treaty of
Amity and Commerce treaty with France based on the September 17, 1776 Model
Treaty.
1778/07/09 -- The Articles of Confederation regulated coin alloys and values.
1778/07.27 -- Francis Hopkinson was elected Treasurer of Loans.
1778/09/19 -- The Committee on Finance of the Continental Congress reported
the first national budget.
1778/09/26 -- A reorganization of the Treasury System created an Auditor,
Office of Comptroller, Office of Treasurer, and two Chambers of Accounts.
1779/02/11 -- The office of the Secretary of the Treasury was created by the
Continental Congress. The position was abolished in July of the same year when a
new Board of Treasury was established.
1779/06/02 -- The Board of the Treasury authorized to engage signatures on
the Continental bills or credit.
1781: George Washington wrote to John Laurens and said: "Experience has
demonstrated the impracticability long to maintain a paper credit without funds
for its redemption."
1781/02/17 -- The Office of the Superintendent of Finance was established to
replace the Board of Treasury.
1781/043/01 -- The Articles of Confederation were ratified. They did not
empower Congress to levy taxes.
1781/09/07 -- Congress assigned the duties of Agent of Marine to the
Superintendent of Finance.
1781/10/19: With an almost evenly divided American-French Army of 16,000,
Washington laid siege to 8,000 British forces at Yorktown and forced their
surrender, for all practical purposes successfully ending the War for American
Independence.
1781/10/23 -- The Superintendent of Finance was authorized to correspond with
U.S. foreign ministers on financial matters.
1781/12/03 -- The Superintendent of Finance was authorized to spend money
obtained in Europe.
APRIL 12, 1782: John Adams negotiated with the Netherlands to receive a loan
and recognition for the United States.
APRIL 19, 1782: The Netherlands recognized the independence of the United
States.
1782/05/07 -- The Superintendent of Finance authorized to appoint inspectors
for the army to report fraud and waste.
JUNE 11, 1782: Dutch bankers agree to lend two million dollars to the United
States.
1782/06/20 -- The Great Seal of the United States was adopted.
OCTOBER 8, 1782: A treaty of commerce and friendship was signed between the
United States and the Netherlands.
NOVEMBER 30, 1782: A preliminary peace treaty is signed between the United
States and England. The most important provisions are the establishment of
boundaries and recognition of American independence. All debts due to creditors
of either country are accepted as valid debts.
1783/10/31 -- A loan negotiated with France by Benjamin Franklin was
ratified.
1784/05/28 -- The Continental Congress estalbished the Board of Treasury to
consist of three Commissioners.
FEBRUARY 28, 1785: Britain threatens to break off the treaty because
Americans have failed to comply with the treaty, by having paid the debts owed
to Britain.
JUNE-SEPTEMBER 1785: There is a major depression because of unstable paper
money resulting in falling prices. This allowed some of the States to discharge
their debts on a basis which was sometimes a thousand to one.
1785/07/06 -- For the first time in history, a nation adopted a decimal
coinage system. The dollar was unanimously chosen as the money unit for the
United States.
1785/07/ 26 -- A resolution requiring that taxes be collected in states where
Congress met shall be paid into the U.S. Treasury was repealed.
1785/08/19 -- Congress authorized the Treasury Board to fix standard weights
and measures for the United States.
1786: The board of Treasury in 1786 condemned paper currency "the revival of
a paper currency and the rage for another experiment in this fallacious medium
that has so far prevailed as to enter into the system of revenue of several
States"
1786/10/13 -- Congress authorized a board to settle accounts between the
United States Government and the individual states.
1787/05/25 -- The Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
1787: During the federal convention, Roger Sherman made the statement that:
"no Government has a right to impose on its subjects any foreign currency to be
received in payments as money which is not of intrinsic value: unless such
Government will assume and undertake to secure and make good to the possessor of
such currency the full value which they oblige him to receive it
for."
JANUARY 27, 1787: Shays rebellion took place because of financial depression.
1789/03/04 -- The first Congress of the United States convened in New York,
marking the beginning of government under the Constitution.
1789/04/30 -- George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the
United States.
1789/07/20 -- Duties were imposed on tonnage.
1789/07/31 -- The United States Customs Service was created when the Tariff
Act became effective.
1789/08/01 -- The first U.S. tariff act went into effect. It established a
policy of protection.
1789/09/02 -- The Treasury Department was created by a law enacted by the
Congress as the second oldest department in the Federal Government.
1789/09/11 -- Alexander Hamilton took the oath of office as the 1st Secretary
of the Treasury.
1789/09/12 -- A Temporary Loan was made, that is believed to be the only loan
negotiated "without the authority of law".
1789/09/22 -- The Postal Service was established by Congress. The first
Postmaster General reported to the President through the Secretary of the
Treasury.
1789/09/25 -- The Bill of Rights was passed by the Congress and sent to the
President for submission to the States.
1790 -- The United States Coast Guard established within the Treasury
Department
1790/01/09 -- Alexander Hamilton , the 1st Secretary of the Treasury,
submitted his First Report on Public Credit advocating assuming state debt and
resolved Southern opposition by agreeing to put the Capital on the Potomac
River.
1790/07/21 -- The dispute over the "Report on the Public Credit" written by
Alexander Hamilton', the 1st Secretary of the Treasury, was settled.
1790/08/04 -- Congress authorized the first U.S. Government securities.
JANUARY 14, 1790: Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton says the United
States should pay its debts at par value, even though many speculators would
profit by this. [As a footnote Alexander Hamilton married into the Rothschild
family December 14, 1780, Alexander Hamilton was born Alexander Levine, of
Jewish lineage, in St. Croix, the West Indies. After changing his name and his
geographical situs, he married Elizabeth Schuyler, the second daughter of
Phillip Schuyler, at the bride's home in Albany, New York. The bride's mother
was Catherine Van Rensselaer, daughter of Colonel John R. Van Rensselaer, who
was the son of Hendrik, the grandson of Killiaen, the first patron. [THE
INTIMATE LIFE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON, by Allan Hamilton 1910]
[It has been reported that there are documents in the British museum that
prove Alexander Hamilton received payment from the Rothschild's for his
dastardly deeds. Could this payment have been for his involvement in the
establishment of a foreign bank in this country, and for convincing Congress to
assume the States debts, which would have created a debt obligation binding the
United States government and the States to the international bankers?]
1790/06/08 -- Final redemption of the 1789 Temporary Loan.
JUNE 20, 1790: Alexander Hamilton convinces Congress to pass the Assumption
Act, under which the federal government is to assume the States debts.
DECEMBER 14, 1790: Alexander Hamilton submits a plan for a bank of the United
States, mainly as a vehicle for the funding of debts under the Assumption Act
and to establish credit.
1791/01/28 -- Alexander Hamilton , the 1st Secretary of the Treasury,
submitted his Mint Report to the Congress. The report gave results of the U.S.
Government's first financial survey on the silver content of the Spanish dollar.
1791/02/10 -- Alexander Hamilton, the 1st Secretary of the Treasury, reported
to the House of Representatives on trade with China.
1791/02/25: The Bank of the United States is chartered. The
first president of was Navy Captain William Jones, who had no banking experience
and who had just gone personally bankrupt, he is often blamed for the Panic of
1819.
1791/03/03 -- The first internal revenue act established a system of excise
taxes.
1791/12/12 -- The First Bank of the United States opened. It provided
national currency and acted as the government's fiscal agent.
MARCH 1-2, 1792: Congress debates the propriety of Alexander Hamilton's
conduct of his office as Secretary of the Treasury. Nothing irregular is
discovered.
APRIL 2, 1792: Congress passes the Coinage Act, which establishes a mint and
prescribes a decimal system of coinage.
1792 -- An Act of Congress established the Commissioner of Revenue in the
Treasury Department and the first United States Mint facility in Philadelphia.
Establishing the U.S. legal tender system, regulating coinage and the eagle
design on United States coins.
1792/05/08 -- An Act of Congress established
FEBRUARY 2, 1793: Alexander Hamilton resigns as Secretary of Treasury.
1793/02/04 -- Alexander Hamilton , the 1st Secretary of the Treasury, sent a
report on the status of government loans to the Congress.
1793/02/09 -- Congress authorized the use of foreign coins as legal tender in
the United States.
1794/08/07 -- Whiskey Rebellion - Farmers rebelled against the Whiskey Tax
and Washington called up Federal troops to suppress the revolt.
1794/10/15 -- The first silver dollar coins were released into circulation.
1795/01/16 -- Alexander Hamilton, the 1st Secretary of the Treasury,
published his Second Report on Public Credit.
1795/01/30 -- Alexander Hamilton resigned, ending his term as the 1st
Secretary of the Treasury.
1795/07/31 -- The first gold coins (half-eagles) were delivered for
circulation.
1796/04/28 -- An Act of Congress provided for the support of public credit
and redemption of public debt.
1796/05/06 -- A loan to establish the seat of government in Washington, D.C.
was authorized.
1796/05/11 -- A letter on U.S. indebtedness to the Bank of the United States
was sent to the Congress.
1797/03/20 -- The first Assay Commission meeting was held.
1798/07/14 -- The first direct tax was levied by Congress.
1798/07/31 -- President John Adams signed a proclamation allowing a
three-year extension for using foreign coins.
1798/0716 -- Seamen were taxed by the United States Customs Service for a
newly-created Marine Hospital Service, created in the Treasury Department.
1804/03/26 -- An Act of Congress was passed to build and arm "men-of-war" to
fight the Barbary Pirates.
1804/07/11 -- A duel occurred between Aaron Burr and former Alexander
Hamilton, who served as the 1st Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton died the
next day.
1807/12/22 -- The Embargo Act was signed into law.
JANUARY 24-FEBRUARY 20, 1811: Congress debates renewal of the charter for the
Bank of the United States. Around 70% of the bank was owned by foreigners.
MARCH 4, 1811: The Bank of the United States is closed permanently.
1812/04/25 -- The General Land Office was established under the Treasury
Department.
1812-1815: The War of 1812 breaks out with Britain.
1815/06/15: Battle of Waterloo where Napoleon lost to Britain. When
Nathan Mayer Rothschild who was at observing the battle realized that Napoleon
was going to loose, he rushed back to the London stock exchange and started
dumping shares before anyone in the exchange knew what was going on.
Investors at the London exchange who knew Rothschild had just returned from the
scene of the battle assumed he dumping shares because Britain was loosing the
battle and they too rushed to dump their shares, causing a panic. Behind
the scenes Rothschild secretly had buyers in the exchange who snapped up the
depleted shares during the panic. Thus N.M. Rothschild made his fortune in
England.
1814/08/24 -- The British burned the Main Treasury Building and dined by its
light across the street in Rhodes Tavern.
1815 -- Customhouse in Kennebunkport, Maine constructed.
DECEMBER 5, 1815: President Madison proposes a second Bank of the United
States to succeed the first Bank that failed to be re-chartered in 1811.
1816/04/10 -- The Second Bank of the United States was approved
JANUARY 7, 1817: The second Bank of the United States is opened. The bank
suffered from serious mismanagement and outright fraud. The bank was run
by Nicolas Biddle who paid bribes to politicians for supporting the bank (During
the 1828 election Biddle he spent more than $100,000 of the bank’s money in
support of Jackson’s political opponents).
1827/07/28 -- The original troy pound was securited by the United States.
1828/05/19 -- The Tariff of Abominations was passed following the
recession in Europe caused by the Napoleonic wars that effectively reduced the
cost of manufactured items from Europe to below what U.S. manufactures could
compete. The was the highest pre-civil War tariff barrier, protecting almost
every conceivable article of domestic manufacture by imposing a 62% tariff on
92% of all imports. The net effect was to load heavy equipment/plant
duties on the South while at the same time significantly depleting Southern
exports.
SEPTEMBER 11, 1830: The Anti-Masonic party acquires national status by
holding a convention in Philadelphia.
DECEMBER 6, 1830: President Andrew Jackson attacks the Bank of the United
States.
SEPTEMBER 26, 1831: The Anti-Masonic party holds a national convention in
Baltimore.
MARCH 17, 1832: The Banking Select Committee said: "That the consequences of
the present, is that the currency of the United States is bank notes, to the
exclusion of the precious metals. The exclusion of gold and silver coins from
circulation is a serious defect, which ought not to be tolerated, and which
should be speedily remedied. There is not an example on record of the successful
issue of a paper currency, and our experiment has been too short and dubious to
prove its suitableness as a permanent regulation."
JUNE 11, 1832: A bill to renew the charter of the Bank of the United States
is submitted by Congress.
1833/03/31 -- Harry and Richard White burned the second Treasury Building to
destroy records.
JULY 3 1832: The Bank bill is approved but is vetoed by President Andrew
Jackson. In his veto message Jackson wrote:
"A bank of the United States is in many respects convenient for the
Government and for the people. Entertaining this opinion, and
deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and
privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the
Constitution, subversive of the rights of the States, and
dangerous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty...to
call to the attention of Congress to the practicability of
organizing an institution combining its advantages and obviating
these objections. I sincerely regret that in the act before me I
can perceive none of those modifications of the bank charter which
are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible with justice,
with sound policy, or with the Constitution of our country.
1832/07/10 -- President Jackson vetoed the Bank of the United States.
OCTOBER 1832: The Anti-Masonic party backs Andrew Jackson, and he is
re-elected.
JUNE 1, 1833: The Secretary of Treasury refuses to follow the order of
President Jackson to distribute the Bank of United States funds into State
banks.
SEPTEMBER 18, 1833: President Jackson reads to his cabinet a paper drafted by
the Attorney General as to the reasons why the federal deposits should be
removed from the Bank of the United States.
DECEMBER 26, 1833: Senator Henry Clay offers two resolutions of censure
against President Jackson for his plan to remove deposits from the Bank of the
United States.
1834/03/11 -- The Coast and Geodetic Survey was transferred from the Treasury
Department to the Navy. It was returned to Treasury in 1836.
MARCH 17, 1834: Representative Gillet, a member of the Banking Select
Committee, concurred in the expediency of increasing the circulation of gold
coin, arguing that, "under the paper system, banks have broken, and on whom did
the loss most severely fall? Upon the poor, who understood little of the
condition and credit of banks. The wealthy usually foresaw the evil and
protected themselves."
MARCH 28, 1834: The Senate approves the criticizing of President Jackson.
APRIL 4, 1834: The House passes four resolutions sustaining the bank policy
of the Jackson administration.
APRIL 15, 1834: President Jackson makes a formal protest to the Senate
concerning its resolution of censure.
MAY 7, 1834: The Senate refuses to enter President Jackson's protest in its
journals.
1834/06/28 -- An Act of Congress was enacted to regulate gold coinage. It
reduced the gold standard weight.
DECEMBER 1, 1834: President Jackson declares that the national debt will be
paid off JANUARY 1, 1835.
JANUARY 30, 1835: There is an attempt to assassinate President Jackson.
FEBRUARY 18, 1836: The Bank of the United States charter expires, the Bank
receives a charter in Pennsylvania.
1836/06/23 -- Legislation was approved that required the Secretary of the
Treasury to designate at least one bank, so-called "pet banks," in each state
and territory for the deposit of government funds.
1836/07/06 -- The position of Architect was established in the Treasury
Department. It was the origin of the Office of the Supervising Architect.
DECEMBER 5, 1836: President Andrew Jackson said in his message to Congress:
"It is apparent from the whole context of the Constitution as well as the
history of the times which gave birth to it, that it was the purpose of the
Convention to establish a currency consisting of the precious metals. These were
adopted by a per-exchange, such as of certain agricultural commodities
recognized by the statutes of some States as tender for debts, or the still more
pernicious expedient of paper currency."
1837/05/10 - 1843 -- The Panic of 1837 began, and New York banks suspended
specie payments. This began the second worst depression (1837 to 1843) in United
States history.
1837/06/09 -- The Republic of Texas authorized the issuance of money.
1837/09/04 -- President Van Buren sent his Independent Treasury System
message to Congress.
1837/10/02 -- The payment of surplus revenues to the states was suspended.
JANUARY 23, 1840: A bill establishing an Independent Treasury is proposed by
Congress.
1941/05/01 -- Series E Savings Bonds were placed on sale. President Roosevelt
purchased the first bond.
JUNE 30, 1840: The Independent Treasury bill passes the House.
1840/07/04 -- Subtreasuries for the deposit of Federal funds were authorized
in major cities.
1841/02/04 -- The Bank of the United States closed its doors.
JULY 28, 1841: A bill re-establishing a National Bank passes the Senate.
AUGUST 13, 1841: The House approves the bill to re-establish the National
Bank.
AUGUST 13, 1841: The Independent Act of 1840 is repealed.
AUGUST 16, 1841: President Tyler vetoes the Bank bill. A riot at the
White House over President Tyler's veto of the third Bank of the United States
led to formation of the District of Columbia police force.
SEPTEMBER 3, 1841: The Senate approves the second Bank bill for a National
Bank under another name.
SEPTEMBER 9, 1841: President Tyler vetoes the second Bank bill.
1841/09/11 -- The President's Cabinet resigned over the third national bank
veto.
1842/08/09 -- The Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed
1842/08/26 -- A Fiscal Year of July 1 through June 30 was established for the
Treasury Department.
1842/08/30 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
the first federal pornography law. The Tariff Act prohibited the import of
indecent and obscene material.
1845/12/29 -- The United States Customs Service began collecting revenue in
the newly-admitted state of Texas.
AUGUST 6, 1846: The Independent Treasury Act is approved.
1848/01/24 -- Gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, marking the
start of the Gold Rush.
1853/04/04 -- The Senate approved the first foreign portfolio investment
survey.
1853/04/04 -- Samuel Casey started his term as the 8th Treasurer of the
United States.
1857/02/21 -- An Act of Congress removed withdrew the legal tender properties
of foreign coins in the United States.
1860 National Bank Bill killed by representatives from the South.
1860/05/10: Morrill Tariff Act passed the United States House of
Representatives by a strictly sectional vote. The 1828 Tariff of
Abominations coupled with the Morrill Tariff is arguably the root cause of the
Succession of the South and the 1861 war of Southern Independence otherwise
incorrectly known as the 'Civil War'.
1860/12/12 -- Philip F. Thomas started his term as the 23rd Secretary of the
Treasury.
1859/12/22 -- Samuel Casey ended his term as the 8th Treasurer of the United
States.
1861/01/15 -- John A. Dix started his term as the 24th Secretary of the
Treasury.
1861/03/04 -- Salmon P. Chase was appointed as the 25th Secretary of the
Treasury.
1861/04/12: The War of Southern Independence starts (Incorrectly called the "Civil War"
- A civil war is fought between citizens of a single Nation, the South had
legally secedeed and were thus independent nations, hence the war could not be
a "civil war". The conquering of the South not only effectively eliminated
the construct of a voluntary "Union", it imposed excessive government and
banking debt and infrastructure on the States from which the States never
recovered).
1860/06/23 -- Appropriations that provided for the apprehension of
counterfeiters, authorized the establishment of the United States Secret
Service, the oldest general law enforcement agency in the Federal government.
1861/03/07 -- Salmon P. Chase started his term as the 25th Secretary of the
Treasury.
1861/03/16 -- Francis E. Spinner was appointed to be the 10th Treasurer of
the United States. He was the first official to request the authority to hire
women.
1861/07/17 -- The first paper money, U.S. demand notes popularly known as
Greenbacks, were issued by the United States Government.
1861/08/05: Congress passes the first National income tax - levied by the
Revenue Act at 3% on all income over $800.
1861/08/29 -- The first United States paper currency was produced by the
Treasury Department
NOVEMBER 25, 1861 -- Salmon P. Chase , the Secretary of the Treasury,
received a letter which was instrumental in adding the motto In God We Trust to
United States money.
1862/01/01 -- An Act of Congress established the Bureau of Internal Revenue,
now known as the Internal Revenue Service.
FEBRUARY 25, 1862 Legal Tender Act of 1862 - July 10, 1862 and March
3, 1863 - established a statutory limitation of $300 million on the amount of
United States Notes "greenbacks" authorized to be outstanding and in
circulation. This currency was not backed by any deposit in any bank or
government reserve, in contrast to the Gold Certificates at the time. They
greenbacks also did not bear interest. A 10% tax was placed on state bank
notes to drive them out of business and establish a monetary monopoly for
Federal greenbacks. (The act was repealed in 1970, and none has been placed into
circulation since January 21, 1971)
1862/03/17 -- The first two issues of paper money called Greenbacks,
developed to prevent counterfeiting, were made legal tender.
1862/07/01 -- The Revenue Act established a permanent tax collection agency,
creating the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
1862/07/11 -- The Secretary of the Treasury was empowered to purchase
equipment and hire employees to engrave and print currency notes in the Treasury
Department.
1862/07/17 -- Stamps were authorized to be used as money.
1862/07/17 -- George S. Boutwell became the first Commissioner of the Bureau
of Internal Revenue. He later became Secretary of the Treasury.
1862/08/21 -- Fractional Currency, also known as postage currency, was issued
in 5-cent, 10-cent, 25-cent and 50-cent notes. The third issue also included a
3-cent note.
1863/02/25: The National Currency Act authorized the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency to regulate new national banks. National Bank Act
and National Currency Act. Congress establishes a National Banking system.
The primary purposes were: Firstly to create a system of national banks;
Secondly to create a uniform national currency; and Thirdly to create an active
secondary market for Treasury securities to help finance the Civil War.
1863/05/09 -- Hugh McCulloch was appointed as the first Comptroller of the
Currency. He later served as Secretary of the Treasury.
1863/12/21 -- The first examination of a national bank occurred, the second
examination took place on December 25th
1863/12/30 -- The Comptroller of the Currency issued "Suggestions to the
Managers of National Banks."
1864: The Coinage Act of 1834 had the purpose of striking a fatal blow at the
ability of banks to sustain a circulation of small denomination paper
currencies. The invalid conclusion that the legal-tender acts of the Civil War
were Constitutional because they effected through a paper medium the same type
of "debasement", which no one " ever imagined was taking private property
without compensation or without due process of law".
1864/02/17 -- The Confederate States of America authorized its fourth
printing of currency, amounting to $200 million of notes.
1865/03/03 -- An Act of Congress authorized the Director of the Philadelphia
Mint to place the motto In God We Trust on all gold and silver coins.
1865/07/05 -- The United States Secret Service was established in the
Treasury Department, and its first chief was appointed by Hugh McCulloch, the
27th Secretary of the Treasury.
1846/08/06 -- Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. Walker reenacted the
Independent Treasury System and introduced a warehousing system for imports that
is still in use today.
1863/01/26 -- The National Currency Act, creating Federally-chartered banks,
was introduced in the Senate by John Sherman, the 32nd Secretary of the
Treasury.
1863/10/10 -- The first fractional currency notes were released into
circulation.
1864/06/03: National Bank Act. The office of Comptroller of the Currency
was established:
- No National Banking Association could start business without government
certification.
- Regulations covered minimum capitalization, reserve requirements, the
definition of bad debts, reporting on financial condition and identity of
ownership, and other elements of safety to depositors.
- Every bank director had to be an American citizen, and three-quarters of
a bank's directors had to be residents of the state in which the bank did
business.
- Each bank was limited, in the interest rate it could charge, by the
strictures of its state's usury laws; or if none were in effect, then to 7%.
If it were caught exceeding this limitation, it would forfeit the loan in
question and would have to refund to the victimized borrower twice what he
had paid in interest.
- Banks could not hold real estate for more than five years, aside from
bank buildings.
- A national bank had to deposit with the Treasury, U.S. bonds amounting
to at least one-third of its capital. It would receive in return
government-printed notes, which it could circulate as money. Thus the banks
would have to lend the government substantial sums for the war effort, to
qualify for federal charters, and a sound currency would be circulated to
the public for an expanding economy.
- National banks could not circulate notes printed by
themselves.
- In order to eliminate all competition with the new national
currency, notes of state-chartered banks were taxed 10% on all outstanding
State banknotes and no tax on National banknotes, forcing the closure of
more State banks. By 1870 there were 1,638 national banks and 325 State
banks
1864/06/30 -- The second law for fractional currency issues was enacted.
1864/06/30 -- Salmon P. Chase ended his term as the 25th Secretary of the
Treasury.
1864/12/06 -- Salmon P. Chase, who served as the 25th Secretary of the
Treasury, was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
1865/04/14 -- President Lincoln approved the Secretary of the Treasury's plan
to create the United States Secret Service. This was one of President Lincoln's
last acts. President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. President Lincoln
had ordered the Lincoln
greenbacks to be printed which deprived the banks from charging interest
on the money they would lent to the government. The other four
men who were involved in the assassination have apparently bee linked to the Rothschild's.
National Bank Notes and Gold Certificates of 1865.
OCTOBER 31, 1865: The public debt of the United States stands at over seventy
dollars per capita. Secretary of the Treasury, Samuel Chase, hoped the
National banks would replace State banks, creating a uniform currency and fund
the Civil War.
By 1865 there were 1,500 National banks (800 of which had converted from
State banking charters).
1866/04/07 -- An Act of Congress stated that only a portrait of a deceased
person may appear on bank notes.
1866/07/28 -- The United States Secret Service investigated the Ku Klux Klan
under a Treasury appropriation for punishment of fraud against the United
States.
1867/03/30 -- The Alaska Purchase Treaty was signed.
1869/03/04 -- The First Inaugural Ball of President Grant was held in the
Treasury's newly built Cash Room.
1868/07/27 -- An Act of Congress ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to
prevent the killing of seals.
1968/07/28 - The Fourteenth Amendment is enacted, which not only created
federal citizenship, it also made it illegal for federal citizens to question
the federal debt. [clause four 14th
Amendment]
1869/03/18 - Congress passes the public Credit Act to pay the public debt
in gold, leaving three hundred million in greenbacks and a bitter debate about
redeeming them.
1869/09/24: On this "Black Friday" a financial panic occurs after two
stock gamblers, Jay Gould and James Fisk, attempt to corner the gold
market. The Grant administration dumps four million dollars in gold on the
market, the price falls in fifteen minutes from one hundred and sixty two
dollars to one hundred and thirty three dollars and many investors are ruined.
1872/04/25 -- John Jay Knox became Comptroller of the Currency.
1872/06/07 -- An Act of Congress provided that Customs Collectors protect
seamen at certain ports.
1873: The historian, William Graham Sumner explained that: "The popular mind
rests on instances like our continental money, as showing the error of paper
money where it absolutely perishes. It is thought that, short of this, only
alarmists see danger. The story of Austria shows that an irredeemable paper
currency is a national calamity of the first magnitude, of which one may indeed
find greater or lesser examples, but of which the least is a peremptory warning
to statesmen and financiers. It is like a disease in the blood, undermining the
Constitution and spreading decay through all the arteries of business. In its
measure and according to circumstances it is pernicious, if not fatal."
1873/02/12 -- The Coinage Act was passed, which authorized the Treasury
Department to place the motto In God We Trust on all United States coins.
1873/02/12: The Coinage Act established the Bureau of the Mint under the
Treasury Department. Prior to that, it was an independent agency. The Act put
all mint an assay office activities under the Bureau of the Mint. Congress terminates the coinage of silver, because the
intrinsic value of bullion exceeds its face value, this Act becomes known as
"the crime of 73."
1873/02/19 -- The Comptroller of the Currency was required to report on the
condition of State banks.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1873: Jay Cooke and Company declares itself bankrupt, this
causes a three year depression.
1874/01/29 -- The United States Mint was authorized to strike coinage for
foreign governments.
APRIL 22, 1874: President Grant vetoes a bill passed by Congress validating
the issuance of greenbacks.
1874/06/18 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
sections of the first Copyright Act.
JUNE 20, 1874: Congress passes a Currency Act fixing the maximum amount of
greenbacks in circulation at three hundred and eighty- eight million dollars.
JANUARY 14, 1875: Congress passes the Specie Resumption Act, reducing the
circulation of greenbacks to three hundred million dollars.
1875/12/09 -- Benhamin H. Bristow , the 30th Secretary of the Treasury, broke
the Whiskey Ring, where businessmen and IRS officials were using the whiskey tax
for Grant's reelection campaign.
1876/07/07 -- Lot M. Morrill started his term as the 31st Secretary of the
Treasury.
1877/08/17 -- The number of relatives employed in each Internal Revenue
Service district was limited.
1877/02/13 -- Commissioners were authorized to buy land sold to pay debts due
to the failed Freedman's Savings and Trust Company.
AUGUST 19, 1877: In a speech made by the Secretary of Treasury John Sherman,
he said: "There is a large class of people who believe that paper can be, and
ought to be, made into money without any promise or hope of redemption; that a
note should be printed: "This is a dollar," and be made a legal tender. I regard
this as a mild form of lunacy, and have no disposition to debate with men who
indulge in such delusions, which have prevailed to some extent, at different
times, in all countries, but whose life has been brief, and which have shared
the fate of other popular delusions. The Supreme Court only maintained the
constitutionality of the legal tender promise to pay a dollar by a divided
court, and on the ground that it was issued in the nature of a forced loan, to
be redeemed upon the payment of a real dollar; that is, so many grains of silver
or gold. I therefore dismiss such wild theories, and speak only to those who are
willing to assume, as an axiom, that gold and silver or coined money, have been
proven by all human experience to be the best possible standards of value, and
that paper money is simply a promise to pay such coined money, and should be
made and kept equal to coined money, by being convertible on demand.
1878/02/28 -- The Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act was passed by the
Congress. It provided for the issue of silver certificates and authorized the
coinage of silver dollar coins.
1878/05/31 -- An Act of Congress forbade further retirement of U.S. legal
tender notes.
1881/03/07 -- The Comptroller of the Currency began liquidation of the
Freedman's Savings Bank.
1881/07/01 -- The United States Assay Office in St. Louis, Missouri, opened.
JANUARY 1885: The Treasury surplus was up to five hundred million dollars.
Congress' tax on State Notes eventually eliminated the circulation of state
banknotes, however, to circumvent the tax, State banks instituted checking
accounts which did not use bank notes and thus eliminated the tax. By 1890
checking accounts were so popular that the Comptroller of the Currency estimated
that only ten percent of the nation's money supply was in the form of currency.
1886/04/08 -- The Free Coinage of Silver Bill was defeated in the House of
Represenatatives.
1886/08/02 -- The Oleomargarine Act established the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) laboratory system.
1890/06/10 -- An Act of Congress established the Board of General Appraisers
of Customs.
JANUARY 17, 1894: The federal gold reserves drop to only sixty million
dollars. The federal government offers a bond issue of fifty million dollars to
make up gold reserve losses.
NOVEMBER 13, 1894: Another federal bond issue of fifty million dollars is
offered. Because of poor public response, most of this loan is taken over by New
York bankers.
JANUARY 6, 1896: The fourth bond issue in three years is floated, this time
in public subscription totaling one hundred million dollars, federal treasury
reserves are down to seventy nine million dollars which is considered so low as
to endanger the continuance of the gold standard.
1887/10/01 -- The Bureau of Engraving and Printing began producing all United
States paper currency and government securities, centralizing this function for
the first time.
1890/07/01 -- The Sherman Anti-Trust Act became law, enacted on the 14th
1891/03/03 -- The Bureau of Immigration was established as a branch of the
Treasury Department. This office ran Ellis Island.
1894/01/27 -- A Board to examine all bids submitted for government supplies
was formed in the Treasury Department.
1895/02/08 -- The Treasury Department bought gold from J.P. Morgan.
1897/01/12 -- The National Monetary Commission met and appointed a committee
to revise the United States monetary system.
1900/03/14: Congress passes the Gold Standard Act, fixing the value of the
dollar against gold, and under which other forms of money are made redeemable in
gold on demand. A gold reserve of one
hundred and fifty million dollars is
created, and the sale of bonds is authorized when necessary to maintain the
reserve.
1901/09/06 -- President McKinley was assassinated. This event led to
Presidential protection by the United States Secret Service.
1903/02/14 -- The following departments were transferred to the new
Department of Commerce and Labor: Coast and Geodetic Survey; U.S. Shipping
Commission; The Bureau of Navigation was transferred; The Bureau of Statistics;
The Lighthouse Board; The National Bureau of Standards and The Steamboat
Inspection Service.
1905/02/03 -- A standard uniform for United States Customs Service officers
was prescribed.
MARCH 13, 1907: A financial panic begins with a sharp drop of the stock
market.
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1907: A run begins on October 23rd on the Knickerbocker
Trust Co. that wipes out that bank, many other banks fail, unemployment rises,
and food prices soar. Increased bank deposits infused by the United States
Treasury restore confidence, supported by loans from such capitalist leaders as
J. Pierpont Morgan.
1908/02/18 -- The First postage stamp coils were delivered by the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing.
1908/05/30: Under the impact of the financial panic of 1907, the
Aldrich-Vreeland Currency Act is passed by Congress, it establishes the National
Monetary Commission to study banking. It published 40 banking treatises and led
to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System after a meeting on Jekyll
Island between top bankers see 1913 Federal Reserve Bank Act.
1909/03/08 -- A Unit of nine men from the United States Secret Service was
transferred to the Justice Department and named the Bureau of Investigation. It
later became the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
1909/07/12 - Congress passes an amendment to the Constitution authorizing
the imposition of a tax on incomes. XXXX Check source ?? XXX
1910/06/25 -- An Act of Congress established Postal Savings Depositories.
1910/11/22: Senator Nelson Aldrich, head of the National Monetary Commission
secretly convenes meeting on Jekyll Island (J.P. Morgan controlled private
playground belonging to the worlds mega wealthy) to architect a new banking act
with the following key players (See 1913 Federal Reserve Banking Act):
- Paul Warburg who was the chief architect and an immigrant from Germany
who had joined the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb & Company and who’s brother
was head of the German Secret Service and who's family were the principal
stockholders of The Reichsbank the central bank which controlled money and
credit in Germany along with the Rothschilds
- A. Piatt Andrew, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury,
- Frank Vanderlip Special Assistant of the National Monetary Commission;
- Henry P. Davison, President of the National City Bank of New York and
senior partner of J.P. Morgan Company- regarded as Morgan’s personal
emissary
- Charles D. Norton, President of the Morgan-dominated First National Bank
of New York
- Benjamin Strong, known as a lieutenant of J.P. Morgan
- (Aldrich's private secretary, Shelton)
1911/06/30 -- The United States Assay Office in St. Louis, Missouri, closed.
1913/02/25: Secretary of State Philander Knox announced by proclamation that
the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified when in fact
no such ratification
had taken place. Government agencies assumed the right to uneven
taxation without the proper ratification of the 16th Amendment. Supreme
Court Cases confirmed that the so-called 16th Amendment inferred no new taxing
authority. Courts now refuse to address the issue and attempt to suggest that
Common Law Precedence overrides the U.S. Constitution which it cannot.
Legally the IRS and local County Tax Collector along with the 33,000 other
taxation bodies in the U.S. have no legal right to collect the taxes they have
taken. Under the law these taxes having been collected under fraudulent
means must be returned.
1913/06/30 -- The Charlotte Mint ceased functioning as an Assay Office.
1913/10/03 -- The Federal income tax on individuals and corporations began.
1913/12/23: The day before Christmas, the Federal Reserve Act was signed, dividing the country
into twelve districts, each with a federal reserve bank. The act also provides
for a drastic currency based on commercial assets rather than bonded
indebtedness,
mobilization of bank reserves, private control of the banking system [foreign
interest], and centralization through the New York branch. The
chief architect of the Federal Reserve Bank Act was Paul Warburg from the German
Warburg banking family who were directly connected to the German Reichsbank and
Rothschild interests. The December 12, 1918, United States Naval Secret
Service Report on Mr. Warburg read as follows: "WARBURG, PAUL: New York City.
German, naturalized citizen, 1911. was decorated by the Kaiser in 1912, was vice
chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Handled large sums furnished by Germany
for Lenin and Trotsky. Has a brother who is leader of the espionage system of
Germany."
1914/01/17 -- The Opium Acts prohibited the import and export of all opium
except for medicine. It put an internal revenue tax on opium manufactured for
smoking.
1914/07/28 - World War One begins.
1914/11/16 - Federal Reserve Banks opened.
1914/12/17 - The Harrison Narcotic Act brought the Treasury Department into
drug enforcement. Opium producers were taxed, and required to register with the
Internal Revenue Service.
1915/05/14 - President Wilson ordered the United States Secret Service to
counter espionage activities.
1915/10/15 - WAR LOAN: American bankers, organized by J.P. Morgan and Co., agree
to lend Great Britain and France five hundred million dollars, the largest loan
floated in any country.
1916/07/11 - The Federal Aid Road Act is signed by President Wilson. The measure provides five million dollars for the use of the States
that undertake road building programs, and it establishes a system of highway
classification. Almost two hundred and fifty thousand commercial vehicles and
more than three million private cars are registered to use public roads.
1916/07/17: The Federal Farm Loan Act is passed by Congress and the The
Federal Farm Loan Bureau was created in the Treasury Department. The bureau was
criticized as being ineffective.
1915/07/24 -- The United States Secret Service captured German espionage
materials.
1916/10/03 - Congress passes the War Revenue Act, increasing corporate
and personal income taxes and establishing excise- profits, and luxury taxes.
1917/04/24 -- The First Liberty Bond Act was approved.
1917/10/06 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
the Trading with the Enemy Act under which Prescott Bush was charged for funding
Hitler (grandfather of G.W. Bush).
APRIL 5, 1918: The War Finance Corporation is formed, capitalized at five
hundred million dollars to support war industries through loans and bond sales.
1918/04/05 -- The Third Liberty Loan Drive began.
1918: During World War I, the top rate of the income tax rose to 77 percent.
1918/04/23 -- The Pittman Silver Coinage Act was approved.
1918/12/15 -- W. G. McAdoo ended his term as the 46th Secretary of the
Treasury.
1918/12/16 -- Carter Glass started his term as the 47th Secretary of the
Treasury.
1919/01/29 - The Prohibition Amendment was adopted after ratification by the
States. Primary responsibility for investigation and enforcement was given to
the Internal Revenue Service.
1919/02/24 -- The Revenue Act codified existing tax laws.
1919/10/28 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
restrictions of the National Prohibition Act at U.S. borders.
1920/01/16 -- Prohibition went into effect. The Internal Revenue Service was
given primary responsibility for enforcement.
1920: Congress abolishes the United States Treasury and establishes the Dept.
of Treasury, in the Act of 1920 66th Congress session II ch. 214.
1920/02/06 -- The Office of the Commissioner of Accounts and Deposits was
established.
1921/06/10 -- The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 established the Bureau of
the Budget in the Treasury Department.
1922/02/09 -- The World War Foreign Debt Commission was established.
1922/09/14 -- The White House Police Force was created under the supervision
of the President.
1922/09/21 -- The Tariff Act repealed obsolete customs laws.
1924/04/09 -- The Dawes Plan was transmitted to the Reparation Commission.
1924/04/9-16 - United States banks loan Germany two hundred million
for reparation.
1925/08/18 -- The Debt Funding Agreement with Belgium was executed.
1925/11/14 - Because of a severe financial depression in Europe, the
United States agrees to a sharp reduction in foreign war debts and
interest rates, but still insists on partial payment.
JANUARY-APRIL 1926: War debt agreements are reached between the United States
and several European countries, including France, Italy, Belgium,
Czechoslovakia, Rumina, Estonia and Latvia. In the case of France it is agreed
that the four billion dollars owed to the United States banks will be paid over
a period of sixty two years. Italy, which owes one billion five hundred million
dollars is also to be paid back in sixty two years.
1926/05/20 -- The Air Commerce Act established the United States Customs
Service presence at airports of entry.
1927/03/03 -- A Bureau of Customs was created within the Treasury Department,
but the authority for the collection of Customs revenue was originally
established in 1789.
1927/06/30 -- The United States Assay Office in Deadwood, South Dakota,
closed.
MARCH 10, 1928: The United States pays three hundred million dollars to
Germany to reimburse them for property taken during World War One.
JULY 10, 1929: The new paper currency, only two thirds the size of the old,
goes into circulation.
1929: By increasing bank reserve requirements the Federal Reserve Bank
effectively took money out of circulation and triggering the Great Depression.
1929/10/24 to 28: The stock market crashes as millions of shares change
hands and billions of dollars in value are lost. Start of the Great Depression
FEBRUARY 24, 1930: J.P. Morgan and Co. announce that the group formed to halt
the market crash on October 24-29, has sold all its shares and is disbanded.
1930/06/14 -- The Bureau of Narcotics was created in the Treasury Department
to administer laws relating to narcotic drugs and marijuana.
1930/06/17 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.
DECEMBER 11, 1930: The largest Bank failure in the nations history takes
place when the Bank of the United States closes its doors in New York.
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1931: The bank panic increases as over eight hundred banks
are closed in two months. Individuals start to hoard gold to protect themselves.
DECEMBER 8, 1931: The President's Address message to Congress calls for
increased taxation to make up for the deficit of nine hundred and two millon
dollars for the year 30-31.
1932/01/22 -- The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was formed. Its head,
Charles G. Dawes, former Comptroller of the Currency, won a Nobel Peace Prize
for his reparations plan.
1932/02/12 -- Andrew W. Mellon ended 11 years as Secretary of the Treasury,
spanning the greatest prosperity and the worst depression in United States
history.
JANUARY 22, 1932: The Reconstruction Finance Corporation came into existence
with the purpose of loaning money to the banks.
FEBRUARY 27, 1932: Congress passes the Glass-Steagall Act, which authorizes
the sale of seven hundred and fifty million dollars worth of the government gold
supply and allows the federal reserve system more leeway in discounting
commercial paper.
JULY 21, 1932: President Hoover signs the Emergency Relief Act which provides
three hundred million dollars in loans to the States and increases the
Reconstruction Finance Corporations debtceiling to three billion dollars to make
loans to State and local governments.
1933/02/15 -- Assassination attempt on President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1933/02/16 -- The United States Senate voted to repeal prohibition.
1933: The Great Depression induced greater demand for gold currency instead
of Federal Reserve Notes, citizens runs on the banks demanding gold in exchange
for Notes threatened to collapse the privately held Federal Reserve Bank.
1933/03/06 -- A National Bank Holiday was ordered, closing all banks for four days
and the production of silver dollar coins was halted.
1933/03/09 -- The Emergency Bank Act was introduced, passed, and approved,
all on the same day to prevent the collapse of the private Federal Reserve Bank.
1933/03/10: FDR issued Executive Order 6073 re-opening banks but prohibiting
them from foreign exchange or paying out gold. In effect the Federal
Reserve Bank was declared bankrupt, the bank could not return assets for the
paper Notes they had issued.
1933/03/16 -- In blatant violation of Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S.
Constitution which prohibited any thing but gold and silver coins as tender
payment of debts, President Franklin D. Roosevelt deleted gold from coinage, from
circulation and from collections, beginning a period when it was illegal to hold
gold in the United States.
1933/03/20 -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Economic Act.
1933/03/27 -- The Federal Farm Loan Bureau, established in 1916, was
transferred to the Farm Credit Administration.
1933/04/05 -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt by Executive Order 6102,
confiscated citizens gold ordering citizens to hand their gold to the private
Federal Reserve Bank or go to jail and or face severe fines. See
FDR Gold Theft
MAY 23, 1933: On the House floor, Congressman Mcfadden brought impeachment
charges against many of the federal reserve board members, federal reserve
agents of many States, comptroller of the currency, and several secretaries of
the United States Treasury for high crimes and misdemeanors, including the theft
of eighty billion dollars from the United States Government and with committing
the same thefts in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932 and 1933 and in the years previous to
1928, amounting to billions of dollars. These charges were remanded to the Judiciary committee for investigation,
where these charges were effectively buried and until this day have never been
answered. [See Congressional Record pp.4055-4058 May 23, 1933]
1933/06/05 -- Abrogation of the Gold Standard.
1933/06/12 -- The World Monetary and Economic Conference convened in London.
1933/06/16 -- The Banking Act insured bank accounts and created the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
1933/07/13 -- The Home Owners' Loan Corporation was created.
JUNE 16, 1933: The National Industrial Recovery Act is passed, this allows
private corporations to make their own laws and write their own statutes, as
applied to the public.
1933/06/30 -- The United States Assay Offices in Helena, Montana, Salt Lake
City, Utah, and in Boise, Idaho, closed.
NOVEMBER 16, 1933 -- Dean Acheson resigned as Under Secretary of the
Treasury. He protested President Roosevelt's gold purchase plan and currency
manipulation.
1933/12/05 -- The 21st Amendment ended Prohibition.
1933/12/28 -- Pursuant to the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, President Roosevelt
ordered private owners of gold certificates to deliver their notes to the
Treasurer of the United States.
1933/12/31 -- William H. Woodin ended his term as the 51st Secretary of the
Treasury.
JANUARY 30, 1934: The Gold Reserve Act gives the President the right to
change the value of the dollar and withdrew gold coins from circulation and
created the Exchange Stabilization Fund. The President immediately devalues the dollar to
fifty nine cents.
1934/06/26 -- The National Firearms Act, the first Federal gun law, was
signed into law
JUNE 28, 1934: The Federal Home Association is established, to insure the
loans made by banks in building homes.
1934/01/17 -- It became illegal for private citizens to own gold certificates
1934/02/02 -- The Export-Import Bank was authorized.
1934/06/20 -- The Office of the General Counsel was established within the
Treasury Department.
1934/10/25 -- Henry Morgantheau, Jr., the 52nd Secretary of the Treasury,
organized the Section of Painting and Sculpture, the art program that
commissioned local artists to paint federal buildings.
1935/03/09 -- President Roosevelt called a special session of the Congress
and declared a banking holiday.
MAY 27, 1935: The United States Supreme Court declares that the National
Industrial Recovery Act is unconstitutional. Since the federal reserve is a
private corporation and passes its own laws; does this not make the federal
reserve unconstitutional [illegal]? [Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States,
295 U.S. 495 1934]
AUGUST 14, 1935: The Social Security Act [Federal Insurance Contribution Act]
becomes law, the American people are told this is a insurance policy. This is
actually an agreement between you and the United States government where you
have agreed under tort law that you have contributed to the national debt and
that you are a wrong doer under the definition of the word contribution, as it
is used by the government. [see the word contribution and the words tort feasor
in Blacks Law Dictionary 6th ed.]
1935/08/31 -- The Neutrality Act was signed into law.
1935/09/23 -- The Banking Act of 1935 restructured the federal reserve by
removing the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency from
the Federal Reserve Board to "allow for increased control of banking and credit".
AUGUST 28, 1935: The Public Utility Act is signed, the United States takes
control of the countries utilities.
AUGUST 29, 1935: Congress passes the Farm Mortgage Act to offset the Supreme
Courts decision against the Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act.
1936/03/28 -- The United States Customs Service's Division of Laboratories
was established.
1936/06/22 -- The Revenue Act closed many loopholes in tax laws.
1937/01/13 -- The First shipment of gold bullion was made to the Fort Knox
Bullion Depository
1938/05/23 -- The Supreme Court held that State employees were subject to the
Federal income tax.
JANUARY 4, 1939: President Roosevelt requests one billion three hundred and
nineteen million five hundred and fifty eight thousand dollars for defense.
JANUARY 5, 1939: President Roosevelt submits a budget of nine billion dollars
to Congress.
1939/03/23 -- The first United States income tax treaty was signed with
Sweden.
1939/07/13 -- The Social Security amendments were passed by the Senate.
SEPTEMBER 1, 1939: World War Two Begins.
JANUARY 3, 1940: President Roosevelt requests one billion eight hundred
million dollars for defense.
MAY 31, 1940: President Roosevelt requests one billion three hundred million
dollars for defense.
JUNE 22, 1940: Congress raises the national debt ceiling to a record high of
forty nine billion dollars.
1940/06/30 -- The Public Debt Service, which was created in 1921, was renamed
the Bureau of the Public Debt.
1940/10/08 -- The Excess Profits Tax Act was signed into law.
JANUARY 8, 1941: The Presidents budget calls for a record seventeen billion
eight hundred million dollars, of which sixty percent is for defense.
1941/03/19 -- Treasury Order 39 established the War Finance Division, which
was transformed into the Savings Bonds Program.
1941/03/19 -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt purchased the first War Savings
Bond from Henry Morgenthau, the 52nd Secretary of the Treasury.
MARCH 30, 1941: President Roosevelt approves a measure that raises the
ceiling on the public debt to a record sixty five billion dollars.
1941/12/07 -- The bombing of Pearl Harbor.
1942/01/10 -- Marketing the War: The Treasury Hour radio program was named
one of the best programs of 1941.
1942/05/18 -- Rear Admiral Charles Conrad was appointed to head the Payroll
Savings Program for selling United States Savings Bonds.
1942/10/21 -- The Revenue Act added many citizens to the tax rolls.
JANUARY 5, 1943: President Roosevelt proposed budget for the fiscal year 1943
is one hundred and eight billion nine hundred and three million dollars.
JANUARY 13, 1944: President Roosevelt proposes a budget of one hundred
billion dollars for 1944.
1944/07/22 -- The Bretton Woods Conference created the International Monetary
Fund, based on ideas of Treasury's Director of Monetary Research, Harry Dexter
White, and the IBRD.
JULY 28, 1945: The United Nations charter is ratified by the Senate.
1945 -- The Revenue Act was signed into law
1945/12/08 -- The Victory Loan Drive ended.
1945 - FRB dollar established as primary oil trading currency.
1945/12/27 -- The International Monetary Fund and International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development Articles of Agreement entered into force.
1946/01/01 -- The United States Savings Bonds Division in the Treasury
Department continued the programs of the War Finance Division, the War Savings
Staff and the Defense Savings Staff.
1947/07/15 -- The Office of International Finance was created within the
Treasury Department.
1948/08/11 -- The President was authorized to execute the U.S.-U.N. Loan
Agreement for the United Nations headquarters.
1949/02/26 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
the Export Control Act of 1949.
JANUARY 2, 1950: A report by the United States Dept. of Commerce shows that
for the period July 1, 1945 to September 30, 1949, the United States spent
almost twenty five billion dollars in foreign aid. Military spending for the
same years has been one third of the yearly budget.
1951/07/16 -- The United States Secret Service was granted permanent
authority by Congress.
JULY 19, 1950: President Truman calls for partial mobilization after Korea
crosses the 38th parallel and also asks Congress for ten billion dollars for the
military.
1951/01/24 -- The Office of Price Stabilization was created.
APRIL 30, 1951: President Truman gets fifty seven billion dollars for defense
for 1951.
1951/08/08 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
sections of the Fur Products Labeling Act.
1952/06/27 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
JANUARY 21, 1952: The President's budget calls for expenditures of eighty
five billion four hundred and forty four million dollars for the coming fiscal
year. Slightly over three fourths of the budget is to spent on "national
security".
1953/07/09 -- The Bureau of Internal Revenue was renamed the Internal Revenue
Service
1954/04/15 -- The deadline for filing individual income tax returns was set
by the Internal Revenue Code.
1954/05/29 - 31: First meeting of the Bilderbergers at Hotel de Bilderberg in
Oosterbeek, Netherlands.
JUNE 29, 1955: The Federal Aid Highway Act is signed by the President. It
authorizes thirty three billion dollars to be spent over the next thirteen years
on the highways.
1955/07/01 -- The President signed Public law 84-140, which mandated that the
motto In God We Trust must appear on all United States currency and coinage & on
the 11th that the motto appear on all currency.
1955/07/01 -- The first computer installed in the Treasury Department,
containing 6,500 radio tubes, was turned on.
1956/05/09 -- The Bank Holding Company Act was passed.
1956/07/30 -- The President signed a Joint Resolution declaring that the
motto In God We Trust would be the national motto.
JANUARY 16, 1957: A peace time budget of seventy two billion eight hundred
and seven million dollars is proposed.
1957/06/30 -- The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was abolished and
certain of its functions were transferred to the Treasury Department.
1957/09/09 -- The first currency bearing the motto " In God We Trust" was
delivered by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
1957/10/01 -- The motto In God We Trust first appeared on United States paper
currency when it was added to the one-dollar silver certificate.
1957/10/01 -- The processing of United States Savings Bonds was first done by
computer.
JANUARY 13, 1958: The fiscal deficit is up to twelve billion four hundred
twenty seven million dollars.
AUGUST 7, 1958: President Eisenhower signs into law an appropriations bill
for defense in the amount of thirty nine billion six hundred and two million
eight hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars.
1959/04/08 -- The Charter of the InterAmerican Development Bank was signed.
1960/05/13 -- The Bank Merger Act was passed. It required Federal regulation
of mergers and consolidations.
1961: President Eisenhower allots forty seven billion six hundred and fifty
four million dollars for defense.
NOVEMBER 28, 1961: President Kennedy "reached the decision that silver metal
should gradually be withdrawn from our monetary reserves."
1962/05/24 -- The Tariff Classification Act ordered the Tariff Commission to
prepare Tariff Schedules of the United States.
1962/09/28 -- Authority over the trust powers of national banks was assigned
to the Comptroller of the Currency.
1963: Six days prior to President John F. Kennedy being assassinated, he
ordered the Treasury to print United States Notes to be used as legal tender, a
limited amount were printed before his untimely death. This action would have
put the federal reserve out of business because they would no longer be able to
collect interest on the money they would have printed. This would have
eventually removed the financial and political control the international bankers
had over this country. Ten days prior to his assassination President Kennedy
said "The high office of President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the
American's freedom, and before I leave office I must inform the citizen of his
plight."
1963/06/04 -- An Act of Congress that allowed the exchange of silver
certificates for silver dollars was signed into law.
1963/07/01 -- The official Flag of the Treasury Department was displayed for
the first time.
1963/07/08 -- The Cuban Assets Control Regulations were issued.
NOVEMBER 22, 1963: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated. One of the
first acts President Johnson orders is the reversal of the order President
Kennedy had made, which had allowed the printing of United States Notes without
interest. Was President Kennedy assassinated for the same reasons as President
Lincoln?
NOVEMBER 26, 1963: Prior to this date the federal reserve notes were a
promise to pay and were redeemable on demand by the bearer for lawful money.
After President Johnson's order to remove the United States notes, the Federal
Reserve issued federal reserve notes without the promise to pay to the bearer on
demand lawful money. Interestingly, the first fifty million no-promise federal
reserve notes were shipped out the same day that President John F. Kennedy was
buried.
1963 -- Production of $1 Federal Reserve notes with the motto In God We Trust
began.
1964/04/24 -- The Secretary of the Treasury removed the restrictions on
acquiring or holding gold certificates.
1964/09/18 -- The United States Customs Service established four new offices.
MARCH 8, 1965: The first troops landed in Vietnam.
1965/08/10 -- Nine Customs regions were created.
1966/10/15 -- The United States Coast Guard, originally established within
the Treasury Department in 1790, was transferred to the Department of
Transportation.
1966/12/19 -- The Asian Development Bank commenced operations.
1967: The deficit is announced to be twenty five billion dollars.
1967/06/30 -- The Treasury Department began compiling data on the United
States Government's foreign loans.
JUNE 1968: Marked the first time in United States history that a paper
currency, purportedly designated as legal tender, was not directly or indirectly
redeemable in silver or gold coin or bullion.
SEPTEMBER 30, 1967: President Johnson submits a record budget of one hundred
and eighty six billion dollars.
1968/06/24 -- The exchange of silver certificates for silver bullion was
discontinued.
1968/10/22 -- The Gun Control Act was signed into law. The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms was charged with its enforcement.
1969/04/11 -- The export ban on U.S. silver coins, which began on May 18,
1967, was lifted.
1969/04/26 -- Ownership of pre-1934 gold coins no longer required a license
from the Treasury Department.
1969/07/14 -- The Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System
announced that currency notes in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and
$10,000 would be discontinued immediately due to lack of use. Although they were
issued until 1969, they were last printed in 1945.
1970/03/02 -- The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center was created by
Treasury Order 217 to function as an interagency training facility for Federal
enforcement officers.
1970/03/19 -- The White House Police changed its name to the Executive
Protective Service. It began protecting foreign diplomatic missions in
Washington, D.C.
1970/06/30 -- The United States Savings Stamp Program ended.
1970/07/01 -- The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) began
operations.
1970/10/14 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
air security provisions of the Federal Aviation Act.
1970/10/26 -- The United States Customs Service was charged with enforcing
sections of the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act.
JANUARY 29, 1971: President Nixon announces that the deficit is thirty eight
billion seven hundred and eighty three million dollars.
1971/01/05 -- The United States Secret Service was authorized to protect
visiting heads of foreign states while in the United States
1971/01/19 -- The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) began
operations.
1971/01/21 -- The last United States notes were placed into circulation by
the Treasury Department.
1971/03/25 -- "Guidance" for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center was
issued. It was the basis for the "Prospectus" submitted to Congress.
1971/08/15 -- The value of the dollar was allowed to float and the first
peacetime price and wage controls were instituted.
1971/12/18 -- The Smithonian Agreement ended the import surcharge, devalued
the dollar, and realigned exchange rates.
1971/12/18 -- The official U.S. price for gold was raised to $38 per ounce.
1972: President Nixon announces the federal government will share thirty
billion dollars with State and local governments.
1972/04/03 -- The official U.S. gold rate was raised from $35 per ounce to
$38 per ounce.
1972/04/27 -- The Treasury Department announced a drawing of sterling from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
1972/05/05 -- The United States notified the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
of its intent to change the par value of the dollar.
1972/07/01 -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, became a division
of the Treasury Department, separate from the Internal Revenue Service.
1972/10/20 -- The State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act authorized the Office
of Revenue Sharing as a bureau of the Treasury Department.
1973/02/13 -- President Nixon raised the official gold price in the United
States from $38.00 an ounce to $42.22 an ounce.
Nixon decouples the dollar from gold.
1973/08/01 -- The Customs Bureau was re-designated as the United States
Customs Service.
1974: President Nixon announces a fiscal budget of three hundred and four
billion four hundred million dollars.
1974/01/21 -- All operations of the United States Customs Service in New York
City were located in the World Trade Center.
1974/03/01 -- The Bureau of Government Financial Operations was created.
1974/07/12 -- The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act was
enacted.
1974/09/22 -- An inspection was completed verifying the gold holdings at the
Fort Knox Bullion Depository .
1974/12/30 -- Public Law 93-373 allowed United States citizens to own gold.
1974/12/31 -- United States citizens were permitted to buy gold coins and
gold bullion for the first time since 1933.
FEBRUARY 3, 1975: President Ford announces a deficit of fifty one billion
five hundred million dollars.
1975/09/12 -- The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Facility in Glynco,
Georgia, was dedicated.
1976/02/11 -- The last public meeting of the U.S. Assay Commission was held.
1976/10/04 -- The Tax Reform Act was signed into law. 1976/12/14 -- The
first issue of Treasury Bills in book-entry form were sold. 1977/02/14 --
Public Members were dropped from the annual Assay Commission. 1977/05/27 --
The Internal Revenue Service began a program to expedite resolution of problems
taxpayers had with IRS after filing tax returns. 1979/08/27 -- The Taxpayer
Ombudsman position was established in the Internal Revenue Service to serve as
taxpayers' advocate in resolving problems. 1980: Under the Depository Institutions Monetary Control Act of 1980, the
Federal Reserve Bank can, and does, simply print tens of billions of dollars to
buy the worthless bonds of dictatorial regimes called “monetizing foreign debt”,
effectively supporting tyrannical regimes in other nations. 1981/08/13 -- The
Economic Recovery Tax Act was enacted. It reduced individual income taxes by 23
percent, lowered estate taxes, and introduced indexing into the tax system.
1981/10/26 -- The Bureau of Engraving and Printing began its program of selling
uncut sheets of United States currency. 1982/01/02 -- The Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center opened the largest indoor firing range in the Free
World. 1982/04/15 -- Taxpayers used the simplified Form 1040EZ for the first
time to file tax returns. 1982/09/03 -- The Tax Equity and Fiscal
Responsibility Act (TEFRA) was enacted. 1982/12/31 -- The United States Assay
Office in New York, New York closed. 1983/02/08 -- The United States joined
the African Development Bank. The Secretary of the Treasury serves as the U.S.
Governor. 1983/04/20 -- The Social Security Amendments mandated that all new
Federal Government employees be covered. 1983/05/31 -- The Ninth Economic
Summit held its first meeting in the continental United States at historic
Williamsburg, Virginia. 1984/06/25 -- The first gold coin was struck by the
United States Government in 50 years. The American Eagle Gold Bullion Coin was
produced at the Denver Mint. 1984/07/13 -- Public Law 98-359, the " Postal
Savings System Statute of Limitations Act" became law. 1984/07/18 -- The Tax
Reform Act aimed to cut tax shelter abuse and increased taxpayer compliance.
1984/10/12 -- The Comprehensive Crime Control Act gave the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms and the United States Secret Service more tools to combat
fraud. 1984/10/15 -- The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center established a
facility to train Indian tribal police. 1985/09/05 -- The Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) graduated 97,000 law enforcement students
during its first decade. 1985/09/22 -- The Plaza Accord, an international
effort to bring down the value of the dollar and stabilize exchange rates, was
reached. 1985/10/08 -- James A. Baker, III, the 67th Secretary of the
Treasury, introduced the Baker Plan, an initiative to solve the Third World debt
problem. 1986/05/19 -- The Firearms Owners Protection Act was passed.
1986/08/15 -- The first Treasury securities were issued under the Treasury
Direct computerized book-entry system. 1986/10/08 -- The American Eagle Gold
Bullion Coin was struck. This marked the first time since 1933 that the United
States Mint produced a gold coin. 1986/10/22 -- The Tax Reform Act reduced the
top individual tax rate to 28 percent and the top corporate tax rate to 34
percent. 1987/07/25 -- Treasury regulations for the Government Securities Act,
establishing the first federal regulation of government securities dealers,
became effective. 1987/09/30 -- Series EE Savings Bond sales topped $10
billion in FY 1987, the highest level since 1943.
1987/09/30 -- The Office of Revenue Sharing was terminated. 1987/10/19 --
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 508 points, marking the worst one-day
collapse in history. 1987/11/30 -- The value of United States Savings Bonds
topped a record-breaking $100 billion. 1988/04/12 -- The Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) was established. 1996/06/26 -- The north
wing of the Main Treasury Building was severely damaged by fire. 2000/11
- Iraq starts to sell oil in Euro's not FRB dollars. 2007/05/31 -
06/03: Bilderberg Conference, Istanbul BASELINE SOURCES:
U.S. Department of Treasury and State http://www.ustreas.gov/education/history/events,
http://www.state.gov and http://www.atgpress.com/kifap/monie.htm |
