206. The First Bank of the United States.
206.美國的第一個銀行
Two parts of Hamilton's plan were now adopted. To the third part of his scheme there was even more opposition. This was the establishment of a great Bank of the United States. The government in 1790 had no place in which to keep its money. Instead of establishing government treasuries, Hamilton wanted a great national bank, controlled by the government. This bank could establish branches in important cities. The government's money could be deposited at any of these branches and could be paid out by checks sent from the Treasury. Furthermore, people could buy a part of the stock of the bank with the new bonds of the United States. This would make people more eager to own the bonds, and so would increase their price. For all these reasons Hamilton thought the bank would be very useful, and therefore "necessary and proper" for the carrying out of the powers given by the Constitution to the national government. Jefferson, however, thought that the words "necessary and proper" meant necessary and not useful. The bank was not necessary according to the ordinary use of the word. Congress therefore had no business to establish it. After thinking the matter over, Washington signed the bill and it became a law. But Jefferson had sounded the alarm. Many persons agreed with him, many others agreed with Hamilton. Two great political parties were formed and began the contest for power that has been going on ever since.
此時漢米爾頓計劃中的兩個部分已經被通過,對于這個方案的第三個部分仍存在大量反對意見,這個部分就是創辦一個大的美國銀行。1790年,政府沒有地方存放國家的錢,漢米爾頓不想建立政府國庫,而是想建立一個由政府控制的大型國家銀行,這個銀行可以在一些重要城市設立分行,政府的錢可以在任何一個支行中儲存,可以用財政部開出的支票來提取。而且,人們可以用美國的新債券購買這個銀行的部分股票,這將使得人們急于擁有債券,因此將會提升其價格。根據這些理由,漢米爾頓認為這個銀行將非常有用,并且,對行使憲法給予國民政府的權力而言,"必要且適當"。然而,杰斐遜認為"必要且適當"這個詞意味著必要而沒用,根據這個詞的日常使用并不必要有這樣的銀行,因此國會無權創建這樣的銀行。經過反復考慮,華盛頓簽署了這個議案,它由此變成一項法律。但杰斐遜已經就此提出過警告,許多人支持杰斐遜,另有許多人支持漢米爾頓,兩個大的政治黨派形成了,他們從此開始權力角逐,直至今天。