Alexander Hamilton: “Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States”

Glossary

• bank circulation banknotes being exchanged as money, typically as based on the amount of specie (money in coin) in holding
• Bank of New York formed in 1784 by Alexander Hamilton, the first commercial bank in New York City
• bills of exchange exchange instruments allowing a merchant to receive goods by providing a note promising full payment at a later date in a currency chosen by the seller; occasionally circulated as a money substitute
• bounties direct subsidies provided by a government to business operations in the form of payments of goods or services rendered
• circulating medium money or money substitute, such as banknotes, specie, or promissory notes of public debt, being used to facilitate economic exchange
• custom-house regulation a statute or rule related to the collection of taxes imposed on imported goods
• doctrine of implied powers the belief that the U.S. Constitution allows Congress (or the executive) the authority to exercise any power to achieve another power explicitly granted
• dollar out of the Nines a mathematical formula for checking the addition of large numbers in a sequence, by which those digits adding up to nine are made equal to zero, thus “casting” the nine away
• douceurs tips or emoluments provided for a service
• duties taxes on imported goods
• escheat and forfeiture the transfer of a person’s property to the government if he or she dies intestate (without a will) or without legal heirs
• excises taxes on imported goods
• exportation of commodities the selling of goods from a specific area, such as a state or nation, outside that area’s territorial boundaries
• imposts taxes on imported goods
• laws of alienage restrictions under English common law whereby foreigners could not own or inherit land because they were not under the jurisdiction of the king
• laws of monopoly rules regulating enterprises that do not have competition; early corporations were often granted monopoly status to encourage economic development
• mercantile company a business involved in the transfer of staple goods, usually overseas
• plenary and sovereign authority complete power over a particular matter
• regulation of pilots statutes governing ship captains
• rules of construction the manner in which a law, statute, or constitution is interpreted
• taxes in kind payments made to the state with goods or services rather than with currency