“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations [in the most general sense of the word] that will grow up around the banks ... will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered ... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.” MoneyLibertyHomelessnessBanks Author:Thomas Jefferson, speaking in opposition to the recharter of the Bank Bill (1809)