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Historical allegation
Federal Reserve origins / private-controlAtlas
Global Power & Elites · Banking & financial control
Competing accounts of how the Federal Reserve was created in 1913 and whether its structure is best read as a public-federal hybrid or as privately dominated money power.
Open the caseFederal Reserve Act3
- Documented · The Federal Reserve Act authorized between eight and twelve regional Reserve Banks rather than a fixed single central bank.
- Documented · The Federal Reserve Act was signed into law on 23 December 1913.
- Official · The framers of the Federal Reserve Act rejected a single central bank in favor of a system with a central governing board and a decentralized operating structure.
Aldrich plan1
- Contested · Some historical accounts state that the Federal Reserve legislation remained similar in fundamentals to the earlier Aldrich plan, including a network of regional reserve banks with private-control features and government powers.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System1
- Documented · The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in its current form began operating in 1936.
Federal Reserve Banks1
- Documented · Member banks hold stock in their regional Federal Reserve Banks under the Federal Reserve Act framework.
Federal Reserve System1
- Documented · The Federal Reserve System includes a Board of Governors and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks.
Jekyll Island1
- Documented · A group of bankers and political figures met at Jekyll Island, Georgia, in November 1910 to discuss central-banking plans.
Secretary of the Treasury1
- Documented · A predecessor Federal Reserve Board began operating in 1914 and included the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency as ex officio members.
Other5
- Documented · After the 1907 financial panic, private bankers and government officials concluded that crisis response centered on a single private financier could not remain the basis of U.S. banking policy.
- Documented · Members of the Board of Governors are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
- Official · Official Federal Reserve materials state that Congress designed a central banking system with both public and private characteristics.
- Documented · The exact number and locations of the regional Reserve Banks were determined in 1914 by the Secretaries of the Treasury and of Agriculture.
- Contested · Competing narratives describe the Federal Reserve as a hybrid institution that is neither purely an arm of government nor purely private.