Jacksons War with the Monster Bank
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Jackson's War with the Monster Bank
Jackson hated banks, all banks. But he especially hated the Second Bank of the United States, chartered by Congress in 1816. The root of his hatred probably stemmed from his near ruin as a young businessman (land speculator, slave trader, and merchant) in the 1790s, when he had accepted some paper notes that turned out to be worthless. He never again trusted any form of money but gold. He believed that all bankers were little more than parasites who preyed upon the poor and honest working people of America.
In Jackson's mind, the Second Bank of the U.S. (the "Bank" or "Second Bank") symbolized all that was wrong with the old America-the America prior to the War of 1812 and the rise of the West. Even though a majority of the Bank directors were government appointees, it was a private institution owned by wealthy eastern and European stockholders. Nicholas Biddle, an erudite aristocrat from Philadelphia, managed the operations that included thirty branches throughout the nation; few financial institutions were more powerful...