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What did the bank symbolize to Jackson?
To Jackson, the bank symbolized how a privileged class of businessmen oppressed the will of the common people of America. He made clear that he planned to challenge the constitutionality of the bank, much to the horror of its supporters.
Who was the director of the bank that Jackson fought?
In response, the director of the bank, Nicholas Biddle, flexed his own political power, turning to members of Congress, including the powerful Kentucky Senator Henry Clay and leading businessmen sympathetic to the bank, to fight Jackson. Later that year, Jackson presented his case against the bank in a speech to Congress; to his chagrin, ...
Why was the National Bank created?
A national bank had first been created by George Washington and Alexander Hamilton in 1791 to serve as a central repository for federal funds. The Second Bank of the United States was founded in 1816; five years after this first bank’s charter had expired. Traditionally, the bank had been run by a board of directors with ties to industry and manufacturing, and therefore was biased toward the urban and industrial northern states. Jackson, the epitome of the frontiersman, resented the bank’s lack of funding for expansion into the unsettled Western territories. Jackson also objected to the bank’s unusual political and economic power and to the lack of congressional oversight over its business dealings.
What happened in 1832?
In 1832, the divisiveness led to a split in Jackson’s cabinet and, that same year, the obstinate president vetoed an attempt by Congress to draw up a new charter for the bank.
When did the Second Bank of the United States close?
President Andrew Jackson announces that the government will no longer use the Second Bank of the United States, the country’s national bank, on September 10, 1833.
Who was the man of the common people who called for an investigation into the bank’s policies and political agenda?
Jackson , known as obstinate and brutish but a man of the common people, called for an investigation into the bank’s policies and political agenda as soon as he settled in to the White House in March 1829.
Did Jackson ever get out of the bank scandal?
Finally, Jackson had succeeded in destroying the bank; its charter officially expired in 1836. Jackson did not emerge unscathed from the scandal.
Who replaced Jackson in the Second Bank?
When the Secretary of the Treasury, who was authorized to move federal funds, refused to do so, Jackson fired him and replaced him with Roger Taney, who carried out his order.
Why was the Second Bank of the United States chartered?
1816: Congress chartered a Second Bank of the United States because of financial problems, including increased national debt and inflation; the charter would last for 20 years. The Bank handled the finances of the U.S. government, controlled the federal currency, and operated as a commercial bank, making loans to businesses and individuals.
What are the arguments for and against rechartering the bank?
Tell students that the arguments for and against rechartering the Bank were laid out in two documents: (1) President Jackson’s veto message, delivered on July 10, 1832, and (2) a speech given on the floor of the Senate the following day by Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts.
What did the people who supported the rechartering believe?
Those who supported the rechartering believed the government had a role to play in assuring the economic stability of the nation. They also believed that Jackson overreached as President and acted as if he had more power than the legislature or the judiciary.
What is the cartoon about Andrew Jackson?
Distribute “King Andrew the First” ( Resource 1 ), a cartoon that criticized President Andrew Jackson for his actions regarding the Second Bank of the United States. Although the exact date of the cartoon is unknown, it is indicative of reactions to Jackson after his 1832 veto of legislation rechartering the Bank.
How to prepare for the Second Bank of the United States?
In preparation for this activity, cut apart one copy of the Event Cards for individual distribution among the students. In brief, tell students that they are going to draw on their knowledge of the early history of the United States and their skills in chronological thinking to develop a timeline that will provide context for understanding the debate over the Second Bank of the United States.
What was the first bank of the United States?
The following pages provide a review of key events in the run-up to the battle. 1791: The First Bank of the United States was chartered. The Bank was supported by Alexander Hamilton, who believed in a strong national government and thought the Bank would help shore up the new government’s finances.
Why did President Jackson veto the Second Bank?
When Congress attempted to renew the Second Bank's charter, President Jackson vetoed the bill after arguing that the bank was unconstitutional. In retaliation, Congress censored President Jackson for abusing his presidential power.
Why did Andrew Jackson veto the charter of the Second Bank of the United States?
According to the History Channel, President Andrew Jackson vetoed a new charter for the Second Bank of the United States because the bank was heavily biased toward business interests and had no congressional oversight. This bias led the bank to not support western expansion, which Jackson favored.
When did the second bank stop being used?
President Jackson, however, announced in 1833 that the federal government would no longer use the Second Bank, opting instead to disperse the federal funds to several state banks.
When was the second bank of the United States established?
The Second Bank of the United States was established in 1816 to replace the national bank started by George Washington and Alexander Hamilton in 1791 as a central repository for federal funds. The charter for this national bank ran out five years before the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States, ...
What did Jackson do to the Second Bank?
At the beginning of his second term, believing he had a mandate from the American people, Jackson instructed his treasury secretary to remove assets from the Second Bank and transfer them to state banks , which became known as "pet banks.".
What was the effect of Jackson's campaign against the Second Bank?
Jackson's campaign against the Second Bank ultimately crippled the institution.
What would happen if Jackson signed the charter renewal bill?
If Jackson signed it into law, it might alienate voters in the West and South, jeopardizing Jackson's bid for a second term. If he vetoed the bill, the controversy might alienate voters in the Northeast.
What was the Bank War?
The Bank War was a long and bitter struggle waged by President Andrew Jackson in the 1830s against the Second Bank of the United States, a federal institution that Jackson sought to destroy. Jackson's stubborn skepticism about banks escalated into a highly personal battle between the president of the country and ...
What was the conflict over the bank?
The conflict over the bank became an issue in the presidential election of 1832, in which Jackson defeated Henry Clay . Following his reelection, Jackson sought to destroy the bank and engaged in controversial tactics which included firing treasury secretaries opposed to his grudge against the bank. The Bank War created conflicts that resonated ...
What was the second bank blamed for?
Various scandals and controversies plagued the Second Bank in the first years of its existence, and it was blamed for helping to cause the Panic of 1819, a major economic crisis. By the time Jackson became president in 1829, the problems of the bank had been rectified. The institution was headed by bank president Biddle, ...
Why was the second bank of the United States created?
The Second Bank of the U.S. The Second Bank was chartered in April 1816, in part to manage debts the federal government had taken on during the War of 1812. The bank filled a void left when the Bank of the United States, created by Alexander Hamilton, did not have its 20-year charter renewed by Congress in 1811.
What did Jackson say about the National Bank?
The National Bank violated the system of checks and balances for it did not answer to anyone within the government. It also dominated the banking system and in affect closed out all smaller ...
Why did Jackson not recharter the National Bank?
Jackson proved that the bank was unconstitutional, a monopoly for the rich, and exposed the government to control of foreign interest.
Why did Andrew Jackson veto the National Bank?
In 1832, a Renewal Bill for the United States Bank came to the President. Jackson chose to veto the Bill for the Bank, and the address that he included with the veto stated his clear reasoning for why he vetoed the bank. Jackson’s reasons for vetoing the bill were an amalgamation of his views that the bank was unconstitutional, a monopoly for the rich, and exposed the government to control of foreign interest.
What was Jackson's message in the veto?
In Jackson’s veto message he appealed mostly to the common citizens while attacking the wealthy. Jackson warned strongly that the principles of the bill contravened the principles of Republican equality. He believed that the Bank was a corrupt institution concentrated in the rich and creating political power for those of wealth. Jackson spoke for equal opportunity and claimed that the bank promoted special privilege, monopoly for the rich, and a dangerous degree of inequality.
What did Jackson say about foreign control?
He cited that more than a fourth of the shareholders of the National Bank were foreigners. He attacked this citation stating that this excludes and disregards the whole of the American people.
Did the Constitution give Congress the power to create a bank?
The Constitution did not give Congress the power to create a bank. Hamilton created the doctrine of “implied powers” saying that because Congress had the power to do anything “necessary and proper” (Article 1, Section 8) to carry out fiscal duties that it was implied that they had the authority to create a bank.
Was the National Bank a corrupt institution?
This debt was of course to be paid by the American citizens. The National Bank was a corrupt institution that benefited foreign investors and put American citizens in debt. He saw the underlying corruption of power that the United States Bank was using.
Why did Jackson denounce the debt?
He vowed to, “…pay the national debt, to prevent a monied aristocracy from growing up around our administration that must bend to its views, and ultimately destroy the liberty of our country.”.
Who was Jackson's rival?
Jackson’s feud with Henry Clay was famous. Both ran for president in 1824 along with John Quincy Adams. Clay lost with the least amount of votes. Jackson had really won, but Clay was the Speaker of the House and he steered the election to Adams anyway. Jackson and Clay were both lawyers, and each hated the other passionately. When Jackson won the elect for president in 1829, he would personally punish Kentucky vetoing any pork spending since that was the home state of his hated rival, Henry Clay. Still, Jackson did much to cut government spending and make it possible to pay off the national debt by January 1st, 1835.
How many branches did the subtreasury have?
By 1840 the sub-treasury had thirty-six branches, but this system was short-lived. In the presidential contest of 1840, the subtreasury question became a big issue. The Whigs elected Harrison who was in favor of creating the Third Bank of the United States. The Whig leaders also had nominated John Tyler (1790-1862) as Vice-President because of his views against the subtreasury act. However, after Harrison died and Tyler became president, things changed. The Whigs and anti-Jacksonians could not override Jackson’s veto during his presidency to shut down the Second Bank of the United States, which became private, surviving only five years before collapsing during that aftermath of the Panic of 1837.
Why did Jackson enforce tariff laws?
To this end, Jackson enforced the tariff laws that many southern states viewed as excessive and even confiscatory.
What was Jefferson's view on debt?
Jefferson’s views on debt was the critical point that Jackson followed. Debts passed on to children that they neither voted for nor approved of, are a blatant example of taxation without representation in the Jeffersonian view of life. When Jackson first ran for president in 1824, he denounced the debt as a “national curse.”.
Why was Jackson censured?
Nevertheless, when Jackson refused to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States, congressional Whigs who supported the Bank and controlled the Senate censured Jackson for assuming power not conferred upon him by the Constitution. This was the first and only time that a president was censured by Congress. A more sympathetic Congress removed the censure in 1837.
What was taxation without representation?
This was taxation without representation: children must pay for debts they did not create, nor benefit from. Andrew Jackson was following in Jefferson’s footsteps as he sought to pay off the national debt during his presidency (1829-1837).
What did Jackson oppose?
As the champion of the common man, Jackson opposed the concentration of power in the hands of the powerful few —like Biddle, who was from a prominent Philadelphia family—at the expense of ordinary farmers and workers. As president, Jackson made no secret of the fact that he opposed the Bank’s upcoming recharter in 1836.
Who was Jackson's successor?
Jackson’s Democratic successor, Martin Van Buren, proposed the establishment of a new independent treasury system, which would fulfill Jackson’s goal of separating the nation’s finances from its government. Repealed by Whigs in 1841 after Van Buren’s loss to William Henry Harrison, the Independent Treasury Act was signed back into law by Democratic President James K. Polk in 1846. The independent treasury system would function until 1914, when it was replaced by the Federal Reserve.
What was the impact of Jackson's veto?
Sources. The Bank War was the political struggle that ensued over the fate of the Second Bank of the United States during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. In 1832, Jackson vetoed a bill to recharter the Bank, and began a campaign that would eventually lead to its destruction.
What party did Jackson support?
As the Bank War continued, Jackson’s opponents organized the Whig Party, named after the British term for opponents of monarchical power. In 1834, the Whig-dominated Senate formally censured Jackson for removing the federal deposits, an action that Jackson’s supporters—who now called themselves Democrats —voted to remove from the Senate record as soon as they gained control in 1837.
What was the real evil of the bank?
But the real evil of the Bank, Jackson claimed, was its creation of a privileged class of Americans with too much money and political power. “It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes,” he wrote.
Which case did Jackson challenge?
In his veto message, Jackson directly contradicted the Supreme Court’s 1819 ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland, which held that the Bank of the United States was constitutional. He claimed the right for himself as president to judge its constitutionality, independent of Congress or the courts.
When did the second bank of the United States charter?
But the nation’s financial struggles during the War of 1812 led Congress to charter the Second Bank of the United States for 20 years starting in 1816 and fund it with $35 million, a gigantic sum at the time.
Why was Jackson opposed to the Bank?
Why was Jackson so opposed to the Bank? On a personal level, Jackson brought with him to Washington a strong distrust of banks in general, stemming, at least in part, from a land deal that had gone sour more than two decades before. In that deal, Jackson had accepted paper notes — essentially paper money — as payment for some land he had sold. When the buyers who had issued the notes went bankrupt, the paper he held became worthless. Although Jackson managed to save himself from financial ruin, he never trusted paper notes again. In Jackson’s opinion, only specie — silver or gold coins — qualified as an acceptable medium for transactions. Since banks issued paper notes, Jackson found banking practices suspicious. Jackson also distrusted credit — another function of banks — believing people should not borrow money to pay for what they wanted.
When was the second national bank established?
Establishing a Second National Bank. Despite broad support for reestablishing a national bank, the road to re-creation was not smooth. In January 1814, Congress received a petition signed by 150 businessmen from New York City, urging the legislative body to create a second national bank.
How did Biddle respond to Jackson's action?
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Biddle responded to Jackson’s action by announcing that the Bank would (or could) not respond to the loss of government deposits by attracting new private deposits or raising new capital. Instead, the Bank would limit credit and call in loans. This contraction of credit, he believed, might create a backlash against Jackson and force the president to relent and redeposit government funds in the Bank, perhaps even renewing the charter. But Biddle’s move backfired: in the end, it helped to support Jackson’s claim that the Bank had been created to serve the interests of the wealthy, not to meet the nation’s financial needs.
How much was the second bank of Philadelphia?
The capitalization for the second Bank was $35 million, considerably higher than the $10 million underwriting of the first Bank. Subscriptions went on sale in July 1816, and the sale period was set at three weeks. To make it easier for investors to buy subscriptions, sales were held in twenty cities. After three weeks, $3 million of scrips remained unsold, so Philadelphia banker Stephen Girard bought them.
What did Jackson order to do after the election?
Shortly after the election, Jackson ordered that federal deposits be removed from the second National Bank and put into state banks. Although Jackson’s order met with heavy criticism from members of his administration, most of the government’s money had been moved out of the Bank by late 1833.
How did the National Bank affect the state banks?
In the course of business, it would accumulate the notes of the state banks and hold them in its vault. When it wanted to slow the growth of money and credit, it would present the notes for collection in gold or silver, thereby reducing state banks’ reserves and putting the brakes on state banks’ ability to circulate new banknotes (paper currency). To speed up the growth of money and credit, the Bank would hold on to the state banks’ notes, thereby increasing state banks’ reserves and allowing those banks to issue more banknotes through their loan-making process.
Why did Madison withdraw his support for the National Bank?
He believed a bank was necessary to finance the war with Britain. But later that year, progress in peace negotiations led Madison to withdraw his support for the proposed national bank. After peace with Britain came in 1815, Congress rejected new efforts to create the bank.
