Central banking is such a core part of the American economic system that it’s hard to imagine a world without it. However, central banking in the United States is a very recent development – barely over a century old, established in 1913. The Founders warned against central banking, with Thomas Jefferson going so far as to say that he thought a prohibition against central banking was the only thing missing from the Constitution.
While no one could argue that the Founders were opponents of capitalism, they were deeply troubled by the prospect of unchecked speculative capitalism as opposed to productive capitalism. Thomas Jefferson considered central banking to be a bigger threat to liberty than standing armies. What a far cry from both ends of the political spectrum today, who see the needs of the financial sector as the starting point of domestic policy.