THOMASVILLE- The February meeting of the Thomasville Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) featured an informative program by Dr. MaryFriend Carter about the history of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Chapter Regent Shelba Sellers introduced the speaker. Dr. Carter has a Ph.D. in Education, previously taught at Thomas University and retired as a Program Director at Walden University. She is a DAR member and a past Regent of the Thomasville Chapter.
Dr. Carter discussed the timeline of central banking in the United States. It began in 1782 with the Bank of North America (de facto, under the Confederation Congress). From 1816-1836, it operated as the Second Bank of the United States. The National Bank was formed in 1863 and controlled by the Federal Treasury. The Federal Reserve System is now the central bank of the United States. It was created by the Congress to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve was created on December 23, 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law. Twelve private regional Federal Reserve banks were established in major cities in the United States.
The Bretton Woods Agreement was negotiated in July 1944 by delegates from 44 countries at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. Under the Bretton Woods System, gold was the basis for the U.S. dollar and other currencies were pegged to the U.S. dollar’s value. The Bretton Woods System effectively came to an end in the early 1970s when President Richard M. Nixon announced that the U.S. would no longer exchange gold for U.S. currency.
Holding a reserve currency minimizes exchange rate risk, as the purchasing nation will not have to exchange its currency for the current reserve currency to make the purchase. Since 1944, the U.S. dollar has been the primary reserve currency used by other countries. As a result, foreign nations closely monitor the monetary policy of the United States to ensure that the value of their reserves is not adversely affected by inflation or rising prices.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 190,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world’s largest and most active service organizations. More than one million women have joined the DAR since it was founded. To learn more about the work of today’s DAR, visit www.DAR.org. For more information about the Thomasville Chapter DAR, visit thomasville.georgiastatedar.org or facebook.com/ThomasvilleChapterNSDAR.