National Bank Failure

The creation of the first national bank in the United States was of utmost importance in setting precedence for how much power the constitution actually grants the government. The debate over whether to create a national bank raised many questions over the constitution that hadn’t been tested before. It also raised questions about what the government can do when the constitution has no written clause on a certain subject. In looking at the arguments from Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson regarding a national bank, people can find out more about how some of the leading founders of the Constitution wanted to see the United States government run.

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

During George Washington’s presidency of our new nation, there was a large disagreement between his Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton and his Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson on several economic and political challenges.To get the nation out of extreme debt, Hamilton came up with a financial plan that included the creation of a national bank. This national bank would be a safe place to deposit government funds, a source of loans for the government and businesses, and the creation of a national mint. However, Jefferson was strongly opposed to the idea of a national bank, he believed it was strictly against the Constitution and would give the federal government too much power. Hamilton argued that Article I Section 8 of the Constitution

Hamilton’s creation of the first bank in the United States continues to exist in today’s economic environment. However, at that time Hamilton’s proposal was met with widespread resistance from individuals such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson who considered the creation of a federal bank as unconstitutional. The analysis made by Gordon in his book is consistent with arguments made by to have a bank that would be effective in order to implement the powers authorized by the government as it was implied in the constitution

Out of all the obstacles that the federalists had faced, the economy was, by far, the most problematic and the most difficult to find a solution for all parties. The country was not in a very stable position because of the recent crises like the whisky rebellion, or money-producing ideas such as bonds. Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson played major roles in establishing the economy of the United States at the time, and also had a large role in the development of today’s government and economy. Without the ideas of these men, the United States economy may have the same problems today that the federalists faced then. And in the end, even though the idea of a national bank was redundant, that is what removed the United States from

In Chapter 10 the book discussed about the Jacksonian Era. During the Jacksonian Era there were several events and policies that occurred that lad the United States to major changes in our government and economics. The Jacksonians wanted to democratize the United States political procedure and try to grow the U.S. economic opportunity for those that would be seen as the “common man.” One of the events to have occurred during the Jacksonian Era was the Second Bank of the United States. The Second Bank of the United Sates was a national bank authorized by Congress, which became the largest business in the nation, which produced a stable currency. During the Jacksonian Era not only was there economic change, but there was territorial change.

During the Jacksonian period of 1824-1848, America had great economic development that played a role in making this period known as the “common man,” live up to its expectations. The Bank War was one of Andrew Jackson's many attempts to lower the power of the federal government. The Bank of the United States was ran by Nicholas Biddle, and issued federal deposits, credit and bank notes. However, the main issue was that it restrained the power of state banks. The soft-money and hard-money were two groups, that opposed the Bank. The

The bank provided credit to growing enterprises, issued bank notes which served as a dependable medium of exchange throughout the country, and it exercised a restraining effect on the less well manages state banks. Nicholas Biddle, who ran the Bank, tried to put the institution on a sound and prosperous basis. But Andrew Jackson was always determined to destroy it (Brinkley, 249). The Bank had two opposition groups: the “soft-money” faction and the “hard-money” faction. Soft money advocates objected to the Bank of the United States because it restrained the state banks from issuing notes freely. Hard money advocates believed that coin was the only safe currency, and they condemned all banks that issued bank notes.

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.

The validity of President Andrew Jackson’s response to the Bank War issue has been contradicted by many, but his reasoning was supported by fact and inevitably beneficial to the country. Jackson’s primary involvement with the Second Bank of the United States arose during the suggested governmental re-chartering of the institution. It was during this period that the necessity and value of the Bank’s services were questioned.

The bank symbolized the hopes and fears inspired by the market revolution. The expansion of banking helped to finance the nation’s economic development. But many Americans, including Jackson, distrusted bankers as “non-producers” who contributed nothing to the nation’s wealth but profited from the labor of others. The tendency of banks to over-issue paper money, whose deterioration in value reduced the real income of wage earners, reinforced this conviction. Jackson himself had long believed the “hard money” -gold and silver-was the only honest currency. Nonetheless, when he assumed office there was little reason to believe that the Bank War would become the major event of his presidency.1 Page 388 of Give Me Liberty

In section 3, Jackson and the Bank, chapter 10 we learned about the Bank of the United States, Andrew Jackson against the Bank of the United States, the Election of 1832, the causes of economic problems. The first thing about the section is the Bank of the United States and the Bank of the United States is a that held government money and controlled the country’s money. The second thing is why Andrew Jackson is against and what he did to the Bank of the United States. Andrew Jackson was against the bank because everything that Nicholas Biddle represented, Jackson disliked. To kill the bank before the bank kills Andrew, Andrew must take out all the money from the bank and then deposit into state banks. Third is that two months after Van Buren

There have been many controversies since the United States declared independence in 1776. One of the many domestic issues that divided American citizens was developing the First National Bank in the late 1700s. Hamilton was in favor, while Jefferson opposed and American citizens chose their side based on what they believed what was best for the country. Hamilton proposed a Report on a National Bank in December of 1790 announcing what the National Bank would include. Hamilton’s proposal included, “The bank’s stock would be worth $10,000,000. 20,000 shares would be sold privately at $400 per share ... 5,000 shares or $2,000,000 of bank stock would be bought by the U.S. government. The bank would be run by a 25-man board of directors - 20 chosen by the shareholders and 5 by the government. The bank’s president would be elected by the board of directors. Notes and bills (money) issued by the bank would be redeemable on demand ... and would be accepted by the U.S. government for all payments due. The bank’s charter would run for 20 years and would be subject to renewal by Congress. The bank would be allowed to establish branch offices in other cities; its main branch would be in Philadelphia, the nation’s capital” (http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/pdfs/unit3_ 4.pdf). Although the first part of the bank bill, establishing a national mint, did pass with ease, supporters and opposers debated the rest of the bill, which included the development of

The war of 1812 stimulated the growth of manufacturing, but it produced chaos in banking and currency. Due to the expiration of the first national bank in 1811, state banks had begun operating. They issued a number of bank notes but did not always have enough of gold or silver to match the amount of money given out. This currency crisis made it difficult to perform honest business and easy to counterfeit. The government saw this bank chaos and issued for a second National Bank, which would be built on the same institution as Hamilton’s did. During the war one of the long lasting issues was Transportation, which sparked an old debate, should the government finance road building in states. The government later agreed to pay for roads from the

During the twenty years it was in place the First Bank did change the economic downturn of the country after the war. The First Bank had branches in eight influential port cities and had a wide geographic existence. It influenced the lending policies of the state banks’ lending practices. The First Bank was like the state banks in that it made business loans, accepted deposits, and issued notes that circulated as currency and were convertible into gold or silver. But it differed from the state banks because its