As part of his ongoing rant against progressives, Glenn Beck argued on his Fox News show tonight that the creation of the Federal Reserve System was a progressive perversion of the Constitution as the Founders envisioned it. Beck stated that the creation of the Federal Reserve System “flew right in the face of our Founders” because Thomas Jefferson “argued that the central bank was, quoting, 'one of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and forms of our Constitution,' end quote.”

While Jefferson did oppose the creation of the First Bank of the United States -- the nation's first central bank -- Alexander Hamilton, another Founder and author of many of the Federalist Papers, strongly supported the bank and wrote an opinion declaring the bank to be within the federal government's constitutional powers. Congress passed the statute creating the bank in 1791, and George Washington signed the statute into law, after considering both Hamilton and Jefferson's views.

The Second Bank of the United States was created during the presidency of James Madison -- another Founder and Federalist Papers author. Although Madison opposed the creation of the first bank, he changed his mind as president and signed the legislation creating the second bank. The constitutionality of the bank was upheld by the Supreme Court in McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819.

Media Matters for America has previously documented Beck's false statements about the Federal Reserve System.