Jackson and the Bank of the United States

Bank of the United States Jackson distrusted a nationalized bank with too much power, and the Bank of the United States had more power than any in the country. The bank acted as though it was a nationalized sector of the federal government. Printed its own paper money. Became the primary depository for government funds throughout the Washington, Adams and Jefferson administrations. Became a powerful entity in America’s economy.

Problems with the Bank of the United States Private Institution Though it acted in many ways as a government entity, the Bank of the United States was accountable to its wealthy investors. This gave Nicholas Biddle, the bank’s president and not a government employee, an immense amount of power over the nation’s funding. Profit was the primary mission of the bank.

The Bank-War When Daniel Webster and Henry Clay presented Congress with a bill to renew the Bank of the United States’ charter, they were met with strict opposition by the Jackson administration. As Clay was Jackson’s primary rival, this became a major issue in the upcoming election. The bill was presented with the hope that Jackson would alienate his constituents either way he went with the decision. If passed, he would anger his voters in the West whom the bank had foreclosed on to send money to Eastern factories. If vetoed, he would anger the Eastern manufacturers that stood to profit from the bank’s existence.

Jackson vetoes and kills the Bank of the United States Jackson followed with his political distrust of the bank and vetoed its proposed renewed charter. With the renewal denied, Jackson was still not content. He felt that Biddle would use his remaining power to demonstrate the power and necessity of the bank. In order to prevent this, Jackson took all federal funding out of the Bank of the United States. Biddle’s response was to call in all loans across the nation owned to the bank, hoping to cause a small financial crisis. Really, the only effect of this was the collapse of a few smaller banks.

Assignment Describe the development of the Whig Party and the impact of the election of 1836.