National Bank Quotes
The influence of monied corporations had reached a degree that there was a national backlash and this law was passed. A century later, the problem was even worse. Instead of corporations giving money to candidates campaigns, corporations give money to Political Action Committees (PACs). Corporate money still is a major factor in politics.
At the time there was no national paper money. Individual banks printed their own and paper money was not accepted or heavily discounted most Americans. Most opposed a tender law that required paper money to be accepted in commerce.
What is fascinating about this quotation is that although the head of a religion, Smith was not advocating the kinds of personal lifestyle issues of his church the way modern religious leaders do, but was concerned with the much larger issues of national banking, expansionism, corruption of the courts and judiciary, and land distribution. He was a classic reform candidate in that sense. Smith had written to most of the then likely Presidential candidates of both major parties asking for their position on the Mormons who were facing persecution wherever they went. None of the politicians would make any satisfactory commitments. Smith took Direct Action and became the only major religious official to have run for the Presidency of the United States until Pat Robertson tried and failed in 2000. Smith’s assassination shortly thereafter cut his run for the Presidency short before it made much headway and politically he had no chance to affect the race.
This is the first major history of banks written in the United States.
