Andrew Jacksonâ??s presidency was one of the most effective in American history, and one of the most divisive. Jackson began his presidency with a call for Indian removal. He achieved his ends with the Trail of Tears, but in the process disillusioned many former allies. He disillusioned even more when he next took aim at the Second National Bank. Since its inception in 1815, the bank had become a regular part of governing as Congressmen from both parties learned to use it to finance many of their projects. Jackson, however, considered the bank in the same light as its previous opponents had: a too-powerful institution that advanced moneyed interests at the expense of the common man. When Congress voted to extend its charter in 1832, Jackson vetoed the bill, setting up the bank as the central issue for the 1832 presidential election.
Henry Clay ran against Jackson as the Whig standard-bearer in 1832. The bank war took center stage. Clay promoted his American System of internal improvements funded in part by an energetic national bank as an alternative to Jacksonâ??s policy of decentralization. Though Clay had established a national stature as Speaker of the House, Jackson trounced his opposition. Clayâ??s vision received little support in the south and even Clayâ??s home region in the west. It seemed that elite and northern opinion favored the bank, while the rest of the country shared Jacksonâ??s assessment of it.
Jackson cast his election victory as a mandate to destroy the bank. He vowed to remove the federal deposits from the bank and place them in state banks of Jacksonâ??s own choosing. The problem he faced was that the Bank existed as an independent institution, and many believed that the president did not possess the authority to unilaterally remove the deposits. He went through a slate of treasury secretaries, all of whom refused to do what they believed was unconstitutional. Finally, Jackson found Roger Taney, who abided by Jacksonâ??s wishes. The destruction of the bank forced many prominent Southern Democrats involved in finance and trade to reconsider their support for Jackson.
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