Andrew Jacksons War

The Second Bank of the United States was chattered in 1816 under the presidency of Nicholas Biddle, in an attempt to stabilize the US economy (Phillips & Axelrod, 2008, p.83). The first bank had failed leaving the economy with a high inflation rate as a result of the 1812 war. Fundamentally, the Second bank acted as the federal governments' fiscal agent and deposited its funds including tax revenues. In addition, most investors of the bank were foreigners who owned many shares in the bank.  Initially, the bank was mismanaged and there was embezzlement of funds and therefore the economy was not getting any better. More to this point the bank failed as well to reinvest its surplus revenues. As a result of economic difficulties, the bank faced much opposition and the foreign investors lost faith in it. Andrew Jackson, then the President of the United States was also opposed to the bank as well.

Essentially, Jackson's war against the Second bank of the US became intense with his 1832 veto. An ideology termed as Jacksonism mounted during this period, which was a mixture of agrarianism, nationalism, populism and liberalism. Jackson termed the bank as an institution that endangered the foundations of American liberty and democracy. Despite a case that had been launched earlier against the bank, the court ruled in favor of the bank affirming the existence of implied powers. However, Jackson strongly opposed the recharter of the Second Bank due to the difficulties in banking concerning the bank. He believed that conferring power and accountability upon one bank was the cause of inflation and difficulties that faced the nation. He thus wanted to get rid of the Second bank completely.

Consequently, Jackson vetoed the recharter bill in 1832 and later withdrew government deposits from the Second Bank of the United States (Phillips & Axelrod, 2008, p.92). This promoted liberty and equality throughout the nation as everyone had equal rights pertaining to banking, and now foreigners' funds were subject to the taxation burdens that were faced by the American people.