I had a chance to review the Federal Reserve Act, and here are some things which came up on searches:
To this day there's controversy as to whether it is a Federal agency or a private corporation.
Why this would come to issue is because we can't truly apply a workable definition of which makes a Fed Agency, or a private corporation.
Points at issue are for example, the ownership as shown in the number of shares held by private individuals/corporation/banks. I've not found a good source for that. However, we can say that in normal business practice, the stock holders are proportionate owners, and The federal government maybe one of the stock holders. Have not been able to ascertain this point.
At this point, it then becomes a matter of functionality and whether public or private corporation, what it does and how it affects the nation becomes a reflection of the intentions of the folks who rule how the bank operates, and how it will affect the system.
The Act give the Fed a mission of currency stability, as described in the Act's Policy Objectives chapter. Whether the Fed has discharged its duties adequately is questionable. Even for a government agency, that's actionable to some extent.
The Comptroller and the Treasury have wide powers to examine all aspects of the bank, nothing appears to be excluded. Has that ever happened? I haven't researched that point.
The act gives the Fed the right to issue currency, without spelling out exactly how... but the Federal Reserve Notes are such money it can issue.
We can go through a discussion which falls under technicalities, as to what indicates ownership, or we can examine the validity of the this central bank as it serves the nation; we can examine its behavior and whose interests it serves. In my opinion, it is clear that while the Congress has some level of oversight, and can exercise some control, it rarely if ever does so, and relies significantly on the people at the Fed for advice. Like their idea of the bailouts were readily taken up by congress as an unavoidable thing to do.
Then we can examine the people involved across the century, and we can acquire other ideas of what its interests might be, in addition to how their interests are revealed in the result of their actions.
Here is a web site with a list of people directly or indirectly connected to the running of the Fed:
A study of these people would paint an interestingly different intention and idea behind the Federal Reserve.
Cheers,
Nick