African American Bank Failure

The Bank of the United States was designed to make money and build an economy. It was designed by men like Alexander Hamilton and Robert Morris, but did not benefit the common citizen as much as wealthy investors. Why did a fledgling government need to borrow millions from overseas in order to invest in a “national” bank, to turn around and then borrow the same money back and pay interest on it? The banking system developed by Alexander Hamilton and Robert Morris was prime pickings for speculators, and laid the groundwork for a history of unscrupulous activity regarding our nation’s money supply that continues to this day. The signatures on the Constitution were barely dry before corruption and

Faced with this economic decline, came other factors that included unemployment and lack of confidence in banks (Church 100). Restoring faith in banks across the United States was one goal for FDR. As depositors lost confidence in the national bank, over $1,000,000,000 was taken out in cash and hoarded (Boardman 64). The Emergency Banking Act closed all banks for four straight days, and put them under inspection by the national government (Schraff 52). Banks were put under meticulous scrutiny by the Treasury Department. The U.S. government demanded that all hoarded gold be returned and all of the $1,000,000,000 was deposited (Boardman 65). Banks were allowed to open only under a strict system of licensing (Schraff 52). Another banking program was The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, which was created by Congress to guarantee deposits up to $5000 (Gupta). In the case

Fortunately, J.P. Morgan, the exorbitantly rich New York businessman came to the aid of the financial system. He organized a group of bankers who shifted their funds to the failing banks. Depositors were assured their savings were protected and could be withdrawn whenever they wanted. The demand subsided and

Nicholas Biddle proved great opposition to President Jackson. He wanted to re-charter the National Bank; however, many people were against Biddle’s decision. This was particularly true of people in the west. They were still wary of a national bank, after the Panic of 1819, which involved mishaps in land speculation. Jackson shared the predominately western opinion that several small banks would be a better service to the nation than one, large bank would. A major problem with a national bank would lie in it’s willingness only to make loans to the wealthy. This would be of no use to the middleclass. Jackson would not allow Biddle to gain any more power than he already had.

With the Jackson administration into office, the Second Bank of the United States became threatened. President Jackson had a private prejudice that wasn’t party policy (Schlesinger 74). He hated banks, all banks, but he especially hated the Second Bank of the United States. He viewed all bankers as “little more than parasites who preyed upon the poor and honest working people of America” (Roughshod 2). The reason for his hatred most likely stemmed from his near ruin as a businessman (land speculator, merchant, and slaver trader) when in the 1790s he accepted some bank notes that turned out to be worthless. From then on, he never trusted anything but hard money, or specie (Roughshod 2).

The credit system of the country had ceased to operate, and thousands of firms went into bankruptcy (Born...,.12). Something had to be done that would provide for a flexible amount of currency as well as provide cohesion between banks across the United States. (Hepburn, 399) This knight in shining armor, as described in the story of the bank run, was the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 helped to establish banks as a united force working for the people instead of independent agencies working against each other. By providing a flexible amount of currency, banks did not have to hoard their money in fear of a bank run. Because of this, there was no competitive edge to see who could keep the most currency on hand and a more expansionary economy was possible.

Imagine having a job and having no safe place to put your money or no place to gain interest for money just sitting in an account. Although this seems like such a smart and genius idea, believe it or not, most people actually did not support the idea of a national bank and didn’t want one at all. The reason Andrew Jackson wanted a national bank was because even though there was already a bank it only became a bank from the farmers, laborers and other working class Americans working hard, it really only benefited the upperclassmen and Andrew Jackson did not like that. The second bank was also a cause of the War of 1812 with the hundreds dollars of debt acquired from the war the United States needed a way to bring down the inflation from the state banks (“Bank War”). There were other banks throughout the country but they were all privately owned and each had their own system of money, whether it was gold, silver, paper money.

The twenty year charter placed on the First Bank of the United States was done to quell/mitigate the worries of many Americans that a national bank was unconstitutional and would provide too much power to the central government, because once the twenty year period is up, the American people and congress can evaluate the bank’s performance and decide if it served all of its purpose accordingly, and if not, they could choose to not renew the charter for the bank. This exact mechanism/method of mitigating corruption was placed on the Second Bank of the United States, and at the end of its twenty year charter, it was clear that the bank had served to regulate and stabilize the United States’ economy by providing loans to citizens to start businesses, farms, plantations, providing opportunities for international investments and profits; which all served to strengthened the national economy and defense of the

One of the most controversial subjects during Andrew Jackson’s presidency was the destruction of the national bank. In “Jackson’s Presidency”, after vetoing the 2nd National Bank’s re-charter, he “proceeded to destroy the Bank by withdrawing the government’s money and depositing it into selected state banks”(16). Andrew Jackson’s merciless demolition of the 2nd National Bank cost him many supporters, and it’s not hard to see why. Andrew Jackson, like his fellow democrat and president before him, Thomas Jefferson, did not agree with having a national bank. Jefferson, however, accepted that it was in place for the good of the country, unlike Jackson.

Once FDR’s Inauguration ceremony concluded, he was faced with the damaging effects of the banking crisis that have plagued the nation’s economy. FDR was only in office for a single day when he “called Congress into a special session” because he wanted to start facing the beast head on starting with the banking crisis. The Emergency Banking Act was proposed, developed and signed in a signal day on March 9, 1933. This newly enacted law was “drawn up under pressure and passed promptly in order to facilitate the reopening of the nation’s banks“(Preston, 585). The Emergency Banking Act stated that there will be “12 Federal Reserve banks” that will be issuing additional currency to people with good assets and the banks that will be reopened will

The installment of the Second National Bank(SNB) into the American Economy was a response to the economic damage caused by the War of 1812. Chartered by James Madison in 1816, the goals of the SNB were to lower inflation, create a steady economy, and assist the government in loaning money out, but also borrowing money when needed(4). During the SNB’s twenty year life, it helped raise the economy to new heights, and was a tool used towards national prosperity. Notorious for his indian removal policy, otherwise known as the “trail of tears”, President Andrew Jackson’s initiative to destroy the SNB is often overlooked(2). The economic system implemented by Jackson not only decentralized our economy and demonstrated the power the President held,

The bank of the United States was built for a good thing. People started to use lots of the the bank’s money in gamble. So President Jackson had a hard choice to do take away the bank or keep it going. If he keeps it going it would ruin fifty thousand families and that would be his fault. If he stops it would ruin ten thousand families. So he picked so president Jackson chose to take it away but that was a mistake.

The National Bank was largely beneficial to the American people, and yet it was

Before the advent of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1933 and the general conception of government safety nets, the United States banking industry was quite different than it is today. Depositors assumed substantial default risk and even the slightest changes in consumer confidence could result in complete turmoil within the banking world. In addition, bank managers had almost complete discretion over operations. However, today the financial system is among the most heavily government- regulated sectors of the U.S. economy. This drastic change in public policy resulted directly from the industry’s numerous pre-regulatory failures and major disruptions that produced severe economic and social

The stock of the bank was bought and held mainly by the US government and numerous businessmen among the states of the Union. It paid interest on public debt, issue a national currency, dealt in foreign exchange, paid government officials, and numerous other tasks. It was both a private and public institution but if asked by the Treasury, it would have to open its books to inspection.