Second Bank of the United States

Why go

Second Bank of the United States earns time because it offers architecture and portraiture that put faces and institutional power beside Independence Hall. Its central thread is a Greek Revival bank building used as a portrait gallery for the early republic. William Strickland's severe temple front borrows directly from ancient Greek architecture. The portrait gallery gathers politicians, military figures and citizens from the founding era.

What to look for

• William Strickland's severe temple front borrows directly from ancient Greek architecture.
• The portrait gallery gathers politicians, military figures and citizens from the founding era.

The full story

Second Bank of the United States is best understood through a Greek Revival bank building used as a portrait gallery for the early republic. The Second Bank of the United States, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian National Bank in the United States during its 20-year charter from February 1816 to January 1836. The bank's formal name, according to section 9 of its charter as passed by Congress, was "The President, Directors, and Company, of the Bank of the United States." A private corporation with public duties, the bank handled all fiscal transactions for the U.S. Government, and was accountable to Congress and the U.S. Treasury. Twenty percent of its capital was owned by the federal government, the bank's single largest stockholder. Four thousand private investors held 80% of the bank's capital, including one thousand Europeans. The bulk of the stocks were held by a few hundred wealthy Americans. In its time, the institution was the largest monied corporation in the world. The essential function of the bank was to regulate the public credit issued by private banking institutions through the fiscal duties it performed for the U.S. Treasury, and to establish a sound and stable national currency. The federal deposits endowed the BUS with its regulatory capacity.

Useful to know

• Check the National Park Service schedule because staffed interiors can change seasonally.
• Use it after Independence Hall to compare political institutions with the people who occupied them.

Your next visit

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