Unfortunately for the National Bank supporters, they miscalculated the public's loyalty to Jackson and dislike of the bank itself. In 1832, Jackson--as predicted--vetoed a bill from Congress to renew the charter of the Second National Bank. However, he waged a very personal and public war against the BUS. He convinced the public to think of the BUS as a "privileged institution" that supported the "rich fat cats" in business. He argued that federal taxes were deposited into the BUS, but the private stockholders of the bank earned all the interest, not the average American taxpayers.
Jackson won the reelection of 1832. From the presidential mansion, Jackson undermined the BUS and had the secretary of the treasury move all of the federal funds to state banks that became known as Jackson's "pet banks." When desperate businessmen requested loans from Jackson's banks, he refused them. Pressure mounted, but in the Jackson won: the BUS' charter expired and 5 years later, it went out of business.
During the banking debate, many accused Jackson of being vindictive, stubborn, and actually causing an economic crisis. Some members of his own party believed Jackson was misusing the power of the presidency. Why do you think Jackson waged such a war against the BUS? Do you believe his motives and actions to be "appropriate" for the presidency?
I think the reason Jackson waged such a war against the BUS is because he realized what a mistake he made by enforcing it and allow it to happen. I am not sure they are appropriate but as president his objective is to do whats best for his country and if he thought the national bank was a bad idea then he has the right to take actions to get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteJackson wasn't doing things that he thought was right, he was only doing things to make the people like him, but to make a good president you need to be sure of your ideas even if you know the people won't always agree. For example, Jefferson and the Embargo act, although people didn't always agree he still thought it was the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI think that Jackson thought that the bank was kind of corrupt, it benefited the stockholders but not the average American who's paychecks were being placed into this bank. I do not really believe that his actions were appropriate because of the crisis that came out of it; i see what he was thinking but taking out the BUS completely and putting this sort of temporary banks in was not the best decision.
ReplyDeleteI think his motives and actions weren't appropriate because he appointed a secretary of treasury who was willing to place all government funds in certain state bank and he refused to make new loans and I didn't think that was right.
ReplyDeleteWell, it did say that this was a personal decision for him, and that especially as president, personal decisions shouldn't usually be prioritized over what the right thing to do is. However, most of the people disliked the bank and therefore Jackson was standing up for his people.
ReplyDeleteI think that Jackson waged a war against the BUS because he didn't want them to have all the government funds in the BUS. Instead, he wanted to place the funds into certain state banks. To do this, he appointed a secretary to place these funds in the state banks.
ReplyDeleteI believe that his motives were appropriate for the presidency, however, I don't think that he should have appointed a secretary to follow out what he wanted to do with the government funds.
I think that Jackson was very influenced by being a well liked person and being re-elected. He was highly influenced by what the people thought was right rather than what he actually believed. As a man of such power he should have realized that the most important thing is to do what is right and best for the country. He needed to take actions to help the country as a whole weather the people would have liked it or not.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that his actions and motives were appropriate, i think they were in a way selfish because when he appointed a secretary of treasury to place all government bonds in a state bank, that was his personal decision, it might not have been what was really right or what the country really wanted. Also it isn't fair that when businessmen asked for loans and Jackson didn't give those loans to them, I don't believe that that is what a president should do, it's selfish, they should be fair and do what the people want/need.
ReplyDeleteI understand and agree with many of you. I also agree that he was more concerned about how people looked at him and that he wanted to be well liked in order to be re-elected. From this I think that is why he likes to lay low on many issues just like the issues of the Tariffs.
ReplyDelete@Dakota, I'm not sure that his actions are "laying low." He waged a war against an national organization and fought for a number of years against it very publicly... Doesn't sound like a man who laid low/kept his opinion to himself
ReplyDelete@Clara, it's interesting that you think this is a selfish action, one of your reasoning being that it wasn't what the country really wanted. On the contrary, the public came to hate the BUS as much as Jackson... so did he really act selfishly then?
ReplyDeleteThose following this string of comments, Joey makes a really good point. There's something very fishy about taking all the debts and putting them in just a handful of state banks. He didn't even distribute it to all the state banks; it was just to his pet ones.
ReplyDeleteI still think that in a way it is selfish because i feel like he forced the people to go against the BUS by only saying bad things about it and nothing good about it, but I may be wrong. It could have been the people's choice too.
ReplyDelete@Mrs. Ilie- When I say lay low I meant weren't supposed to be very aggressive. For instance he didn't want to cause a ruckus.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Jackson's actions were quite appropriate. His whole goal was to appeal to the "common man" and to do this he had to wage a war to show that the BUS only benefits the "rich fat cats." If the commoners can agree with him, he'll gain their votes. I also think his actions are appropriate because he was attacked first. The BUS supporters were trying to make him look bad and in doing so he shoved right back at them and won. He has the right to protect himself.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Clara! Yeah, I totally see that- it's almost like the people went against it because Jackson convinced them to see it that way...
ReplyDeleteI agree with whoever is Yumyumcult. I agree with them because I think that Jackson vetoed the Bank and made them look horrible just to get more people to vote for him. I think this is a bad thing to do because no matter what the president should always do what he thinks is right, rather than just doing something so he could spin it his way so he can win the re-election.
ReplyDelete@Dakota, I see your point, say about the nullification theory. He laid low for a bit. Here with the bank though, I think he really gunned the BUS down.
ReplyDelete@Joey Mrs. Ilie and I both agree that you happened to bring up a really good point that Jackson's actions weren't appropriate because he appointed a secretary of treasury that was willing to place all government funds in certain state banks. I also found it to be a little strange that Jackson refused to make new loans as well.
ReplyDeleteClara, I would agree with you that it was selfish. But, I think that he didn't take the general public's opinion into account he just did what he thought was right. I do think this was wrong and he should have gone about this differently and should have taken the public's opinion into account.
ReplyDelete@Daniel: i think taht it wasn't selfish. He acted believing that the bank was actually benefiting the rich people
ReplyDeleteI think Jackson waged a war against the BUS because he wanted government funds to go to state banks rather than be placed in a bank he believed was corrupt. I believe that his motives were wrong and inappropriate because he was only trying to maintain his image as a political leader in order to be elected again.
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