George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

The wretched condition of the American Army Greene attributed to the want of a union of the states. He would invest congress with power to enforce its requisitions. If this were not done, he held ‘it impossible to establish matters of finance upon such a footing as to answer the public demands.’ The first vehement impulse towards ‘the consolidation of the federal union’ was given by Robert Morris, the finance minister of the confederation. With an exact administration of his trust, he combined, like Necker, zeal for advancing his own fortune; and he connected the reform of the confederation, which ought to have found universal approbation, with boldly speculative financial theories, that were received with doubt and resistance. His opinions on the benefit of a public debt were extravagant and unsafe. A native of England, he never held the keys to the sympathy and approbation of the American people. In May, 1781, when congress was not able to make due preparation for the campaign, he succeeded, by highly colored promises of a better administration of the national finances, and by appeals to patriotism, in overcoming the scruples of that body, and obtained from it a charter for a national bank, of which the notes, payable on demand, should be receivable as specie for duties and taxes, and in payment of dues from the respective states. The measure was carried by the votes of New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, with Madison dissenting, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, seven states: single delegates