The Second National Bank

The Second National Bank of the United States opened in 1816, the main purpose of the bank was to stabilize the nation's money supply. This included reducing the amount of paper money, to do this the Second Bank promised to redeem paper notes for gold and silver coins. Collecting these paper notes helped the Second Bank keep the state banks from issuing too much paper money. Throughout the 1820s the Second Bank continued to remain stable by closing reckless state banks as well as keeping expansion-minded bankers in the western states. This made the bankers and entrepreneurs with capital investments that were underwriting economic development happy. But the American people were afraid because of the the bank's power to force other banks to close which left them with worthless paper notes. Some bankers didn't like that all of the federal governments specie was being deposited in the Second Bank and wanted some of it deposited in their banks, while others just didn't like the idea of any kind of supervision by a central bank. In 1832 Henry Clay and Daniel Webster attempted to get Biddle to get an early extension on the bank's charter hoping that Jackson would veto the bill and thus split the Democrats before the 1832 elections. In the end Jackson vetoed the bill that rechartered the bank saying that the bank has no constituional authority to charter the national bank and that it was "dangerous to the liberties of the people. Lastly he pointed out that British aristocrats owned most of the bank's stock and that any institution that powerful shoudl be "purely American." This attack on the bank lead to his victory in the election of 1832.

The election of 1824

In this election there were four cadidates. These four candidates were Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, son of the previous president Adams, Sec. of Treasury William H. Crawford, Henry Clay of Kentucky and Andrew Jackson of Tennessee. In the election of 1824, John Quincy Adams won and he tried to set up a government using Henry Clay's American System. He wanted a protective tariff, federally subsidized roads and canals and a national bank to control credit and create a uniform currency. In this election Jackson was still fighting to get his way and in 1828 and tariff was placed that rose tariffs on imported raw materials. This infuriated the southerners because it cost them about $100 million more a year than it should have.

Then in the election of 1828 Adams didn't run again and Jackson ended up winnig this election with extreme votes. Jackson was all for state rights and a less powerful central government. The people that supported Jackson became known as the Democrats because the republic ideals were more for a few idividual right rather than the whole and the Jacksonians were about the whole society. In 1832 John C. Calhoun thought that the states should be able to decide if tariffs were constitutional or not and even though Jackson was for the states he thought this idea was rediculous. In 1833 Jackson passed the Force bill that gradually lowered the taxes and by 1842 the tariffs were back to the modest rates of 1816. Jackson also didn't approve of the Second National Bank and he vetoed a bill to recharter it and declared that congress had no constitutional right to charter a national bank. In 1830 Jackson pushed for the Indian Removal Act that would move the indians to present day Oklahoma and Kansas (west of the Mississippi), just the way the easterners wanted it. Eventually Jackson used Military force to move the indians who refused to move. Overall Jackson's presidency celebrated the power of the people.

Adams, Jackson and the Election of 1824

There were four candidates in the Election of 1824: Crawford, Adams, Clay and Jackson. Andrew Jackson won the popular vote , but there was no majority in the Electoral College so the vote went to the House of Representatives where John Quincy Adams came out the winner. Adams was not a very successful president and that was proven when he passed the Tariff of 1828 that raised taxes on imported British woolen goods. This upset many people, mainly the people of the south, and Jackson used it to his advantage while running for president in 1828.

With the help of Martin Van Buren and John c. Calhoun Jackson ran a smart campaign. Van Buren's strategy was to unite the northern farmers and artisans with southern slave owners and smallholding farmers. Calhoun who was running to be Jackson's vice-president brought his allies from South Carolina to join the campaign. This group of Jacksonians started calling themselves Democratic Republicans, eventually becoming Democrats. Jackson was able to remain popular in the south by opposing the tariffs. Jackson won the election and made Martin Van Buren Sectretary of State. Once in office Jackson used the spoils system where he replaced all members of his office with loyal supporters, so he had his own people holding government jobs.