So he asked three men for advice: Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. And Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.
VOICE ONE:
Randolph had no firm answer. Jefferson agreed with Madison. Creating a national bank violated the Constitution.
Hamilton, of course, disagreed. He said the Constitution gave the government certain powers, and named them. But it included others, without naming them. It did this so the government could put its powers to work and act like a government. Such was the purpose of the Constitution, Hamilton said.
These arguments did not completely answer all of President Washington's questions. But he went ahead and signed the bill to establish a national bank in America.
VOICE TWO:
Hamilton and Jefferson came to disagree on most issues. Their struggle for power in the new government led to the creation of America's political party system. That will be our story next week.
(MUSIC)
ANNOUNCER:
Our program was written by Christine Johnson. The narrators were Maurice Joyce and Shep O’Neal. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION, an American history series in VOA Special English.
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2013-11-25
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