Here are the simple facts of the great betrayal. Wilson and House knew that they were doing something momentous. One cannot fathom men's motives and this pair probably believed in what they were up to. What they did not believe in was representative government. They believed in government by an uncontrolled oligarchy whose acts would only become apparent after an interval so long that the electorate would be forever incapable of doing anything efficient to remedy depredations.
EZRA POUND
(St. Elizabeth's Hospital,
Washington, D.C. 1950)
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Dr. Pound wrote this introduction for the earliest
version of this book, published by Kasper and Horton, New York, 1952.
Because he was being held as a political prisoner without trial by
the Federal Government, he could not afford to allow his name to
appear on the book because of additional reprisals against him.
Neither could he allow the book to be dedicated to him, although he
had commissioned its writing. The author is gratified to be able to
remedy these necessary omissions, thirty-three years after the
events.)
(The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. by H. E. Bergh, Vol. III,
p. 145 ff.)
February 15, 1791
The bill for establishing a national bank, in 1791, undertakes,
among other things,--
1. To form the subscribers into a corporation.
2. To enable them, in their corporate capacities, to receive grants
of lands; and, so far, is against the laws of mortmain.
3. To make alien subscribers capable of holding lands; and so far is
against the laws of alienage.
4. To transmit these lands, on the death of a proprietor, to a
certain line of successors; and so far, changes the course of
descents.
5. To put the lands out of the reach of forfeiture, or escheat; and
so far, is against the laws of forfeiture and escheat.
6. To transmit personal chattels to successors, in a certain line;
and so far, is against the laws of distribution.
7. To give them the sole and exclusive right of banking, under the
national authority; and, so far, is against the laws of monopoly.
8. To communicate to them a power to make laws, paramount to the laws
of the states; for so they must be construed, to protect the
institution from the control of the state legislatures; and so
probably they will be construed.
I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this
ground--that all powers not delegated to the United States, by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the
states, or to the people (12th amend.). To take a single step beyond
the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is
to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer
susceptible of any definition.
The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill,
have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States by the
Constitution.