Final answer:
The national bank, proposed by Alexander Hamilton, was accepted by the President and Congress because it promised to provide economic stability, regulate currency, and assist in national finance management.
Step-by-step explanation:
The President and Congress accepted Hamilton's proposal for a national bank for multiple reasons. Alexander Hamilton, as the secretary of the treasury, convinced them that a national bank was essential for economic stability and growth, following the financial problems of the Confederation period.
The bank would facilitate the payment of federal taxes and tariffs, serve as the government depository, assist in government borrowing, regulate state banks, and create stable paper money.
Despite opposition from figures such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, who raised concerns about the concentration of power and the constitutionality of such a bank, Hamilton's arguments for the economic utility and constitutional legitimacy of the bank, based on the implied powers of the Constitution, prevailed.
Hamilton envisioned the Bank of the United States as a stabilizing institution that would hold government deposits and issue currency, thereby ensuring a steady money supply and assisting in managing national finances.
To overcome the opposition, political compromises were made, such as moving the nation's capital to a new location on the Potomac River, which won over skeptics like Madison. President George Washington, after careful consideration and advice from both sides,
Sided with Hamilton and signed the legislation creating the national bank in 1791, recognizing its importance for the country's economic interests.
Hamilton believed that by focusing on the self-interest of the elite, broader economic benefits would come to all citizens, a view that most nationally-minded Congress representatives and the President supported.