Length: {2:51 minutes}

Summary of Chapter 10: The Constitutional Convention

In 1787, colonial leaders met in Philadelphia to replace the Articles of Confederation. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed a privately owned central bank, aware of the issues caused by the Bank of England. Jefferson warned that private banks could control currency through inflation and deflation, ultimately depriving people of their property.

During the debates on the monetary system, Gouverneur Morris criticized the motivations of the Bank of North America’s owners. Morris, who had written the final draft of the Constitution and had previously supported the Bank of North America with Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton, expressed concern over the potential for the rich to dominate and enslave the rest of the population. In a letter to Madison, Morris stressed the need for government power to keep the wealthy in check.

Despite Morris’s defection, Hamilton, Robert Morris, Thomas Willing, and their European backers convinced the majority of Constitutional Convention delegates not to grant Congress the power to issue paper money. The delegates, wary of the inflation caused by paper currency during the Revolution, overlooked the success of colonial script before the war. The Constitution’s silence on the matter left an opening for the money changers, ensuring that America would not print its own money again.

• INDEX (with correct start and stop times opening in a new window):
• 1. Intro {10:38 minutes}
• 2. The Money Changers {1:14 minutes}
• 3. Roman Empire {1:35 minutes}
• 4. The Goldsmiths {4:40 minutes}
• 5. Talley Sticks {4:55 minutes}
• 6. The Bank of England {4:20 minutes}
• 7. The Rise of the Rothschilds {5:35 minutes}
• 8. The American Revolution {6:30 minutes}
• 9. The Bank of North America {2:35 minutes}
• >>10. The Constitutional Convention {2:51 minutes}<<
• 11. First Bank of the United States {4:20 minutes}
• 12. Napoleon’s Rise To Power {2:41 minutes}
• 13. Death of the First Bank {2:10 minutes}
• 14. Waterloo {6:05 minutes}
• 15. Second Bank of the U.S. {1:20 minutes}
• 16. Andrew Jackson {9:52 minutes}
• 17. Abe Lincoln {16:23 minutes}
• 18. The Return of the Gold Standard {10:41 minutes}
• 19. Free Silver {5:10 minutes}
• 20. J.P. Morgan and the Crash of 1907 {4:55 minutes}
• 21. Jekyll Island {11:45 minutes}
• 22. Fed Act of 1913 {11:37 minutes}
• 23. World War I {7:21 minutes}
• 24. Great Depression {13:58 minutes}
• 25. FDR/WWII {13:00 minutes}
• 26. IMF/World Bank {11:51 minutes}
• 27. Conclusions {27:52 minutes}