America has had its fair share of tensions, disagreements and outright wars. During the 1830s, America faced tumultuous times like no other. Following the passing of a subsequent early charter for the Second Bank of the United States by Congress in July 1832, President Andrew Jackson swiftly vetoed the bill thereafter. This was soon followed by a subsequent failure also on the part of the bank’s supporters to turn the veto to a winning campaign failed in the wake of the loss of their presidential aspirant that fall. By 1833, President Jackson retaliated in response to the strategy of bankers in that he removed the deposits of the federal government and placed them in other banks. What followed next was the soaring of federal revenue from the sale of lands and Jackson saw this as an opportunity to settle the national debt and fulfill his dream of the nation being debt free. This, he accomplished as early as 1835. As soon as the economy continued to overheat, state dreams of having infrastructure projects continued to inflate. Following this, Congress passed a law in 1836 that made it compulsory for the federal surplus to be distributed across the states in four payments that would foresee the developments of innumerable projects. Thereafter, the administration of Jackson declared in a circular that the payments for federal land purchases be made in specie. What happened next was the loose state banking practices and credit contraction that resulted in an economic crisis that lasted close to seven years. In part, one may argue that President Andrew Jackson wanted to bring about reforms in the banking sector of America at that time. However, as this paper shows, Jackson was out to declare an outright war with the banking industry of America at that point.
The first bank of the United States collapsed when its charter of twenty years expired in 1811 ("Andrew Jackson, Banks, and the Panic of 1837", 2017). The idea of a national bank gained strong support from quite a number of proponents. These included the then House Speaker Henry Clay who was subsequently linked with the originator of the bank idea, Alexander Hamilton. They had come to the realization of the important role the Bank of United States would play especially in its functions. As most historians depict, there was a Republican reconciliation with Hamilton’s idea of a national bank, which would revolutionize the finance industry. The Madison administration, influenced by Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury, supported the initiative. Congress also joined the support through a coalition of Republican southerners and westerners who saw the bank as a means of economic advances. This consequently led the efforts to give the bank another charter. However, these efforts were ignored as state banks continued to campaign against the Bank of the United States recharter. After the war of 1812, the long political split of the country as to the necessity of a national bank ended with all parties agreeing to have a national bank that would foresee national expenditure and a centralized revenue collection. This resulted in the Second Bank of the United States formed in 1816 and opened for business in January 1817. As it went about its business in the financial sector, the Second Bank of the United States would soon face administrative challenges and face a vote of low confidence from President Andrew Jackson.
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Following the approval of the Second Bank of the United States, during the term of President Andrew Jackson and after the bank had worked for a specified amount of time; there was the appeal of the bank to obtain a charter once again. After the passing of the recharter bill, Jackson knew this was an issue he would not equivocate especially in striving to evade political confusion. Therefore, there was no way Jackson would let the issue slip out of his grip, and he worked to ensure that this problem remains resolved. Historians view what transpired next as one of the most interesting and decisive stances made in the history of politics to date. However, Jackson’s intention was not that of fighting the 1832 election on the issue of banks but Clay, Webster and Nicholas Biddle, the president of the Second Bank of the United States, forced his hand (Federal Bank of Philadelphia, 2010). What they were not aware of was the fact that Jackson understood the innate symbolism of national banking and its implications for popular governments of America. Therefore, after receiving the bill of renewal from Congress on July 4, which appeared befitting to friends of capital who hoped such a measure would secure the ignorance of Democrats, Jackson took his time and waited one week to come up with a proper response that would undoubtedly reverberate the warlike nature of these arguments.
In conclusion, the bank issue was strikingly personal as well as political for President Andrew Jackson. It was personal in the sense that he had lost quite a significant amount of his fortune in the period the Bank of the United States declared bankruptcy and it took him slightly over half a century to recover. In light of this, and at a time when a resolve was highly required, only Attorney General Roger B. Taney shared the same views as Jackson, and this only served to inflame Jackson resolve. Historian Harry L. Watson wrote that the veto to repeal centralized banking resulted in popular success and voters applauded the fact that the president defended the equality of the public without favor or bias. Following this veto, Biddle went ahead on numerous occasions to challenge the powers of the constitution regarding the Jeffersonian congressional limits but was unable to overturn Jackson’s rule. In essence, Jackson hated and had a personal vendetta against the banks, and he somewhat succeeded in their demise. This is because currently, the Federal Reserve exists.
References
Andrew Jackson, Banks, and the Panic of 1837 . (2017). Lehrmaninstitute.org . Retrieved 7 June 2017, from http://lehrmaninstitute.org/history/Andrew-Jackson-1837.html#second
Federal Bank of Philadelphia. (2010). The Second Bank of the United States (pp. 8-11). Philadelphia.
