<Tr> <Th> Added to NRHP </Th> <Td> May 4, 1987 </Td> </Tr> <P> The President, Directors and Company, of the Bank of the United States, commonly known as the First Bank of the United States, was a national bank, chartered for a term of twenty years, by the United States Congress on February 25, 1791 . It followed the Bank of North America, the nation's first de facto central bank . </P> <P> Establishment of the Bank of the United States was part of a three - part expansion of federal fiscal and monetary power, along with a federal mint and excise taxes, championed by Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury . Hamilton believed a national bank was necessary to stabilize and improve the nation's credit, and to improve handling of the financial business of the United States government under the newly enacted Constitution . </P> <P> The First Bank building, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, within Independence National Historical Park, was completed in 1797, and is a National Historic Landmark for its historic and architectural significance . </P>

Who was chiefly responsible for establishing a national bank