Bank of the United States Bank chartered in 1791 by the U.S. Con¬ gress. It was conceived by Alexander Hamilton to pay off the country’s debts from the American Revolution and to provide a stable currency. Its establishment, opposed by Thomas Jefferson, was marked by extended debate over its constitutionality and contributed significantly to the evo¬
lution of pro- and anti-bank factions into the first U.S. political parties, the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party. The national bank played the unexpected but beneficial role of preventing private state banks from overextending credit, a restriction that some nevertheless con¬ sidered an affront to states' rights. Meanwhile, agrarian populists regarded the bank as an institution of privilege and wealth and the enemy of democ¬ racy and the interests of the common people. Antagonism over the bank issue grew so heated that its charter could not be renewed in 1811. Criti¬ cism of the bank reached its height during the administration of Pres. Andrew Jackson, who led anti-bank forces in the long struggle known as the Bank War. The bank’s charter expired in 1836. Its reorganization as the Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania ended its regulation of pri¬ vate banks.
bank rate See discount rate
Bank War Controversy in the 1830s over the existence of the Bank of the United States, at that time the only national banking institution. The first Bank of the United States, chartered in 1791 over the objections of Thomas Jefferson, ceased in 1811 when Jeffersonian (Democratic) Repub¬ licans refused to pass a new federal charter. In 1816 the second Bank of the United States was created, with a 20-year federal charter. In 1829 and again in 1830 Pres. Andrew Jackson made clear his constitutional objec¬ tions to and personal antagonism toward the bank. He believed it con¬ centrated too much economic power in the hands of a small moneyed elite beyond the public’s control. Its president, Nicholas Biddle, with the sup¬ port of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, applied for a new charter in 1832, four years before the old charter was due to expire, thus ensuring that the bank would be an issue in the 1832 presidential election. Jackson vetoed the recharter bill and won the ensuing election, interpreting his victory as a mandate to destroy the bank. He forbade the deposit in the bank of gov¬ ernment funds; Biddle retaliated by calling in loans, which precipitated a credit crisis. Denied renewal of its federal charter, the bank secured a Pennsylvania charter in 1836. Faulty investment decisions forced it to close in 1841.
Banka See Bangka
Bankhead, Tallulah (Brockman) (b. Jan. 31, 1902, Huntsville, Ala., U.S.—d. Dec. 12, 1968, New York, N.Y.) U.S. film and stage actress. Born to a prestigious family (her father became a prominent congress¬ man), she made her Broadway debut in 1918 and achieved fame on the London stage in The Dancer (1923). Her vivid presence and throaty voice contributed to her singular performances in the hit plays The Little Foxes (1939), The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), and Private Lives (1946). She made films such as A Woman’s Law (1928) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944) but remained primarily a stage performer. Her final stage appear¬ ance was in The Milk Train Doesn ’t Stop Here Anymore (1964).
bankruptcy Status of a debtor who has been declared by judicial pro¬ cess to be unable to pay his or her debts. It also refers to the legal pro¬ cess involved: the administration of an insolvent debtor’s property by the court for the benefit of the debtor’s creditors. Filing by a debtor is called voluntary bankruptcy; involuntary bankruptcy is declared by the court upon petition by a creditor. The U.S. Bankruptcy Code makes four types of relief available to bankrupt individuals or corporations: liquidation (under Chapter 7), reorganization (Chapter 11), debt adjustment for a family farmer (Chapter 12), and debt adjustment for an individual with a regular income (Chapter 13). Municipalities may file under Chapter 9. Generally, not all debts are paid in a bankruptcy. The court determines which debts are to be repaid, and the debtor is typically granted a dis¬ charge of the rest. See also insolvency.
Banks Island Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. The westernmost island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it lies northwest of Victoria Island and is separated from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf. About 250 mi (400 km) long, it has an area of 27,038 sq mi (70,028 sq km). First sighted by Sir William Parry’s expedition in 1820, it was named for the naturalist Joseph Banks.
Banks Peninsula Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand, extending about 35 mi (55 km) into the Pacific Ocean. Originally an island formed by two contiguous volcanic cones, the peninsula was visited in 1770 by Capt. James Cook, who named it for Joseph Banks. Christchurch is situated at its base.
Banks, Ernie in full Ernest Banks (b. Jan. 31, 1931, Dallas, Tex., U.S.) American baseball player. In 1950 Banks was signed by the Kan-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Banks ► Banzer Suarez I 163
sas City Monarchs, one of the top teams in the Negro leagues. After one season with the Monarchs, Banks spent two years in the U.S. Army. He spent only a short time in the Negro leagues after his discharge from the service, as he was signed by the Chicago Cubs in 1953. Banks soon established himself as one of the National League’s leading power hitters, his career batting totals were 512 home runs and 1,636 runs batted in, with more than 40 home runs in each of five seasons. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977, his first year of eligibility.
Banks, Russell (b. March 28, 1940, Newton, Mass., U.S.) U.S. nov¬ elist. Banks was associated in the 1960s with Lillabulero Press and has taught at various colleges and universities. He attracted wide attention with Continental Drift (1985), inspired by a stint in Jamaica; his later novels, which, like his earlier works, often portray characters trapped by economic and social forces they do not understand, include Affliction (1989; film, 1998), The Sweet Hereafter (1991; film, 1997), and Cloud- splitter (1998), a historical novel about the abolitionist John Brown.
Banks, Sir Joseph (b. Feb. 13,1743, London, Eng.—d. June 19,1820, Isleworth, London) British explorer and naturalist. After studying at Oxford, Banks inherited a fortune that allowed him to travel extensively, collecting plant and natural history specimens. He outfitted and accom¬ panied James Cook’s voyage around the world (1768-71). Particularly interested in economic plants and their introduction from one country to another, he was the first to suggest the identity of the wheat rust and bar¬ berry fungus (1805); he was also the first to show that marsupial mam¬ mals are more primitive than placental mammals. He served as president of the Royal Society from 1778 to 1820, and, as unofficial director of Kew Gardens, he transformed it into a major botanical institution. His herbarium, one of the most important in existence, and his library, a major collec¬ tion of works on natural history, are now at the British Museum.
Barm, River River, Northern Ireland. The Upper Bann flows northwest 25 mi (40 km) into Lough Neagh, while the Lower Bann flows north out of the lake 33 mi (53 km) into the Atlantic Ocean.
Banna’ \ban-'na\, Hasan al- (b. 1906, Egypt—d. February 1949, Cairo) Egyptian political and religious leader. He began teaching Arabic at a primary school in Ismailia in 1927. In 1928 he established the Mus¬ lim Brotherhood, which aimed at rejuvenating Islam and Egyptian society and expelling the British from Egypt. By 1940 it was attracting students, civil servants, and urban labourers to its ranks. He tried to maintain an alliance with the Egyptian government, but many members saw the gov¬ ernment as betraying Egyptian nationalism, and after the war, members were implicated in several political assassinations, including that of Prime Minister al-Nuqrashl in 1948. Hasan al-Banna 5 was assassinated with gov¬ ernment involvement the next year.