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[[File: Andrew_Jackson_Portrait.jpg|250px|thumbnail|left|The Seventh American President, Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) (In Office 1829-1837)]]__NOTOC__
Andrew Jackson fundamentally believed that the 2nd Bank of the United States was unconstitutional because it maintained monopoly power over the United States. He also believed that the Bank violated the idea that the role of a government that should stand for honesty, equality, and fairness. Jackson also argued that the bank's abuses of power made it unfit to store the nations public deposits. With help from his cabinet members and supporters in Congress, Jackson successfully removed federal government funds from the bank in 1833.
Jackson had been influenced by the experiences of Philadelphia banker William Duer, who had gone bankrupt during the Panic of 1792 and argued that a central bank was necessary for economic stability. Jackson believed that state banks should be given more control over the nation’s money supply and that it should not be concentrated in a single institution. He also resented Bank president Nicholas Biddle, who he saw as an elitist power broker in cahoots with Treasury Secretary William Crawford and banker Stephen Girard. Jackson also opposed the fact that many private stockholders like Jacob Astor and John Jacob Astor owned large percentages of Biddle’s bank and profited off of nations public deposits. Jackson saw this as a threat to America’s democracy because these private interests would have too much influence over American monetary policy and the national economy if they were left unchecked. He believed that only state banks could be trusted to act in America’s best interests rather than their own personal gain.
[[Category: United States History]] [[Category: Jacksonian America]] [[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category: Antebellum History]] [[Category: 19th Century History]] [[Category: Political History]]
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