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Bank Recharter Bill
In 1832 another bank bill was sent to Congress where it was approved. However, Jackson vetoed the bill because he had never been in favor of the government being in control of money. Jackson also argued that monetary power should lie within states rights. -
Jackson's Veto's
Andrew Jackson vetoed the bill for the second national bank claiming that it was unconstitutional. His motivation behind this was because he believed that the bank only helped the rich and further oppressed the poor. -
Election of 1832
Andrew Jackson was elected for his second presidency during the election of 1832 in which he overwhelmingly won majority of the electoral votes 219 to 49 against Henry Clay. When he was elected, there was majority of positive reactions because Jackson portrayed himself as a defender for the common people, so everyone liked him -
Jackson's Pet Banks
When Jackson transferred all of the federal deposits out of the bank, he moved them to what is known as "pet banks" or local banks. The surplus of federal funds also went to the pet banks. At first citizens were pleased with his actions because it seemed like they gained more money. However, the pet banks created an unreliable currency in America and inflation. -
Jackson Removes Federal Deposits
In an effort to end the bank, Jackson decided to remove the federal deposits. By slowly sending off the governments funds, he would bleed the banks dry making them fail. Biddle, the bank's leader was furious because he knew that this action would lead to the end of the national bank. -
Biddle's Response
After Jackson buried the national bank, Nicholas Biddle, the banks leader was very angry with Jackson. Since Biddle had a lot of power from leading the bank, he caused a recession in hopes that it would make Americans blame Jackson for their economic troubles. The people's reaction was much different than what Biddle anticipated though because it meant that Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren would reap the consequences. -
Speculative Boom
The speculative boom spread throughout America during the summer of 1836. Since money was transferred into pet banks, people thought that they had more of it. This led to an increase in spending that people could not afford. The people were very happy and excited though when they originally believed they had more money. -
Specie Circular
The Specie Circular was an edict that required all available land to be purchased using hard money. This stopped the speculative boom and only mad the economic crash even worse. Their motivation behind this was so that people would stop purchasing land with bank notes and hopefully it would help the pet banks. -
Crash of 1837
The economic crash of 1837 was caused largely by wildcat and pet banks, inflation, and specie circular were also main reasons for the hard times. Many people were outraged because they had lost a great deal of their money and no one knew how to fix the problem. Though this was mostly caused under Jackson's administration, the blame fell upon Martin Van Buren because it began to effect Americans during his presidency.
