When asked what his greatest accomplishment had been during his two terms as President, Andrew Jackson replied "I killed the Bank." He was talking about the "Second Bank of the United States", which was our country's second central bank.
So, why was Jackson so passionate about terminating the central bank? And why did he believe that central banks were so insidious? And why should you care?
A couple of reasons you might be interested to know about what motivated Jackson:
- Though Jackson ended the central bank, it was re-created in 1913 under a new innocuous-sounding name "The Federal Reserve", which is still with us today.
- Also, it's interesting to note that Andrew Jackson's populist message relating to banking helped to launch the Democratic party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Andrew Jackson, outmaneuvered for the Presidency in 1824, combined with Martin Van Buren to form a coalition that defeated Adams in 1828. That new coalition became a full-fledged party that (by 1834) called itself Democrats.
To find out what motivated Jackson, read all about Jackson's struggle to kill the Bank, in the transcript that I created below (scroll down a ways). This transcript comes from "The Money Masters", which is a 3-hour video that talks about the history of central banking.
The Money Masters - Part 1 of 2 - the transcript begins at minute marker 1:00:50
The Money Masters - Part 2 of 2
wikipedia article - The Money Masters - Video was made in 1995.
(Update 05apr2009 - A little over a year after this blog entry was made, the wikipedia article was deleted. This link is to a copy of the article hosted by a user named Xiutwel.)
Here's another good video, which is similar to "The Money Masters". The first part of this video focusses on the creation of the income tax in 1913, which was also the same year that the Federal Reserve was created. Then, the video moves on to many other subjects, and includes a clip of the Daily Show with Paul Krugman about how the credit card companies got the Bankruptcy Bill passed.
America Freedom to Fascism - authorized version
Though the Federal Reserve has a ".gov" web address, it is actually a private bank dedicated only to generating profits for its owners.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/ - quote is taken from upper right-hand corner of the website
The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, was founded by Congress in 1913 to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.
(Update 05apr2009 - I noticed that they moved the quote to the left side of the website and they removed the phrase "founded by Congress in 1913", perhaps because letting you know that it was founded by Congress may lead you to think it could be removed by Congress.)
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Transcript from the Money Masters - This is just the part about Andrew Jackson. "I Killed the Bank."
1:00:50
- Second Bank of the U.S.
Meanwhile back in Washington, in 1816, just one year after Waterloo and the Rothschild's alleged takeover of the Bank of England, the American Congress passed a bill permitting yet another privately owned central bank. This bank was called the Second Bank of the United States. The new bank's charter was a copy of the previous banks. The U.S. government would own 20% of the shares of the bank. Of course, the Federal share was paid by the Treasury up front into the Bank's coffers. Then, through the magic of fractional reserve lending, it was transformed into loans to private investors who then bought the remaining 80% of the shares. Just as before, the primary stock holders remained a secret, but it is known that the largest block of shares, about 1/3rd of the total, were sold to foreigners. As one observer put it, it is certainly no exaggeration to say that the Second Bank of the United States was rooted as deeply in Britain as it was in America. So, by 1816, some authors claim, the Rothschilds had taken control of the Bank of England and backed the new privately owned central bank in America as well.
- Andrew Jackson
After 12 years of manipulations of the US economy on the part of the Second Bank of the U.S., the American people had had just about enough. Opponents of the Bank, nominated a dignified senator from Tennessee named Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, to run for President. This is his home, "The Hermitage". No one gave Jackson a chance initially. The Bank had long ago learned how the political process could be controlled with money. To the surprise and dismay of the "money changers", Jackson was swept into office in 1828.
Jackson was determined to kill the Bank at the first opportunity. And he wasted no time in trying to do so. But the Bank's 20-year charter didn't come up for renewal until 1836, the last year of his second term, if he could survive that long. During his first term, Jackson contented himself with rooting out the Bank's many minions from government service. He fired 2,000 of the 11,000 employees of the federal government.
In 1832, with his re-election approaching, the Bank struck an early blow, hoping that Jackson would not want to stir up controversy. They asked Congress to pass a renewal bill 4 years early. Naturally, Congress complied and sent it to the President for signing, but Jackson weighed-in with both feet. "Old Hickory", never a coward, vetoed the bill. His veto message is one of the great American documents. It clearly lays out the responsibility of the federal government towards its citizens, rich and poor.
"It is not our own citizens only who are to receive the bounty of our Government. More than eight millions of the stock of this bank are held by foreigners.... Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that in its nature has so little to bind it to our country? ...."
"Controlling our currency, receiving our public moneys, and holding thousands of our citizens in dependence .... would be more formidable and dangerous than a military power of the enemy."
"If [government] would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favor alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. In the act before me, there seems to be a wide and unnecessary departure from these just principles."
-- Andrew Jackson
Later that year, in July 1832, Congress was unable to override Jackson's veto. Now, Jackson had to stand for re-election. Jackson took his argument directly to the people. For the first time in US history, Jackson took his Presidential campaign on the road. Before then, Presidential candidates stayed at home and looked Presidential. His campaign slogan was "Jackson and no Bank". The National Republican party ran Senator Henry Clay against Jackson. Despite the fact that the bankers pored over 3 million dollars into Clay's campaign, Jackson was re-elected by a landslide in November of 1832.
Despite his Presidential victory, Jackson knew the battle was only beginning. "The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead", said the newly elected President. Jackson ordered his new Secretary of Treasury, Lewis McClean, to start removing the government's deposits from the Second Bank and start placing them in state banks.
But McClean refused to do so. Jackson fired him and appointed William J Duane as the new Secretary of the Treasury. Duane also refused to comply with the President's requests and so Jackson fired him as well. And then appointed Roger B Teney to the office. Teney did withdrawal government funds from the Bank starting on October 1st, 1833. Jackson was jubilant. "I have a chain. I'm ready with screws to draw every tooth and then the stumps." But the Bank was not yet done fighting. Its head Nicholas Biddle used its influence to get the Senate to reject Teney's nomination.
Then, in a rare show of arrogance, Bittle threatened to cause a depression, if the Bank was not rechartered.
"This worthy President thinks that because he has scalped Indians and imprisoned Judges, he is to have his way with the Bank. He is mistaken."
-- Nicholas Biddle
Next, in an unbelievable fit of honesty for a central banker, Biddle admitted that he was going to make money scarce to force Congress to restore the Bank.
"Nothing but widespread suffering will produce any effect on Congress.... Our only safety is in pursuing a steady course of firm restriction - and I have no doubt that such a course will ultimately lead to restoration of the currency and the recharter of the Bank."
-- Nicholas Biddle
What a stunning revelation. Here was the pure truth, revealed with shocking clarity. Biddle intended to use the money-contraction power of the Bank to cause a massive depression until America gave in. Unfortunately, this has happened time and time again throughout US history, and is about to happen again, in today's world.
Nicholas Biddle made good on his threat. The Bank sharply contracted the money supply by calling in old loans and refusing to extend new ones. A financial panic ensued, followed by a deep depression. Naturally, Biddle blamed Jackson for the crash, saying that it was caused by the withdrawal of federal funds from the Bank.
Unfortunately, his plan worked well. Wages and prices sagged. Unemployment soared, along with business bankruptcies. The nation quickly went into an uproar. Newspaper editors blasted Jackson in editorials. The Bank threatened to withhold payments, which then could be made directly to key politicians for their support. Within only months, Congress assembled in what was called the "Panic Session."
Six months after he had withdrawn funds from the Bank, Jackson was officially censured by a resolution that passed the Senate by a vote of 26 to 20. It was the first time that a President had ever been censured by Congress. Jackson lashed out at the Bank. "You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by eternal God, I will rout you out."
America's fate teetered on a knife edge. If Congress could muster enough votes to override Jackson's veto, the Bank would be granted another 20-year monopoly or more over America's money, time enough to consolidate its already great power.
Then, a miracle occurred. The governor of Pennsylvania came out supporting Jackson and strongly criticized the Bank. On top of that, Biddle had been caught boasting in public about the Bank's plan to crash the economy.
Suddenly the tide shifted. In April of 1834, the House of Representatives voted 134 to 82 against rechartering the Bank. This was followed up by an even more lopsided vote to set up a special committee to investigate whether the Bank had caused the crash.
When the investigating committee arrived at the Bank's door in Philidelphia, armed with a subpoena to examine the books, Biddle refused to give them up, nor would he allow inspection of correspondence with Congressmen, relating to their personal loans and advances he made to them. He also refused to testify before the committee back in Washington.
In January 8th, 1835, Jackson paid off the final installment on the national debt, which had been necessitated by allowing the banks to issue currency for government bonds, rather than simply issuing treasury notes without such debt. He was the only President to ever pay off the debt.
A few weeks later, on January 30th, 1835, an assassin by the name of Richard Lawrence, tried to shoot President Jackson. But by the grace of God, both pistols misfired. Lawrence was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. After his release, he bragged to friends that powerful people in Europe had put him up to the task and promised to protect him if he were caught.
The following year, when its charter ran out, the Second Bank of the United States, ceased functioning as the nation's central bank. Biddle was later arrested and charged with fraud. He was tried and acquitted, but died shortly thereafter, while still tied up in civil suits.
After his second term as President, Jackson retired here to the Hermitage outside of Nashville to live out his life. He is still remembered here for his determination to kill the Bank. In fact, he killed it so well that it took the "money changers" 77 years to undo the damage.
When asked what his most important accomplishment had been, Jackson replied, "I killed the Bank."
- Abe Lincoln
Unfortunately, even Jackson failed to grasp the entire picture and its root cause. Although Jackson had killed the central bank, the most insidious weapon of the "money changers" - fractional reserve banking - remained in use by the numerous state-chartered banks. This fueled economic instability in the years before the Civil War. Still, the central bankers were out and as a result, America thrived as it expanded westward.
During this time, the principal "money changers" struggled to regain their lost centralized power, but to no avail. Then, finally they reverted to the old central banker's formula: war to create debt and dependency. If they couldn't get their central bank any other way, America could be brought to its knees by plunging it into a Civil War, just as they had done in 1812, after the First Bank of the United States was not re-chartered.