Federal Reserve Bank Quotes
There is some debate as to whether this statement was made at this time or different parts of it on two different occasions. The sentiment and position appears to be genuine but the issue of the timing is in doubt.
The very act of printing money created a debt—at the time and until the Nixon Administration which went off the gold standard—the government owed the gold or silver and the spicie—the printed money—was a promissory note.
Jefferson was of the opinion that a central bank was unconstitutional and that it was a great economic danger to the nation, a view also held later by President Andrew Jackson.
He was discussing his unprecedented steps that as Federal Reserve Chairman he took to cope with the Great Recession after the Meltdown of 2008. He had, as a graduate doctoral student, studied the economic history of the Great Depression of 1929 and the government attempts to ameliorate some of the effects. He was one of the few people in government who had this historical perspective.
The Federal Reserve Banks are private and are part of the Federal Reserve system whose head is a Presidentially appointed and Senate Confirmed Chairman. However, the operations of the bank including setting the monetary policy of the United States are performed independent of the Congress and the President, and in a number of cases the politicians have been very unhappy with the Fed’s policies. So a critically important function of government is not under the control of the democratically elected representatives of the citizens; the General Accounting Office which can audit every other function of government including the CIA may not audit the Federal Reserve System even though it handles more money than any other aspect of government.
Arguing for less secrecy of the Federal Reserve Bank:
