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The Whig Party Forms
This party was formed shortly after the election campaign of 1832. The main reason this party formed was because of their common opposition for Andrew Jackson. By 1836, this party was still too divided to formally run against Jackson under a leader. Ultimately, they decided for Martin Van Buren. -
The National Bank's Rechartering is passed by Congress
The bank's supporters in Congress decided to recharter the Second National Bank even though there were still 4 years left before the expiration date to assure an established bank for the next 20 years. The president vetoed it and Congress was unable to pass the bill with the necessary two thirds majority in both chambers. June 11, 1832: The Senate passed a bill to recharter the Second National Bank July 3, 1832: The House of Representatives passed a bill to recharter the Second National Bank -
Election of 1832
Jackson was running for president again and his main opponent was Henry Clay. The largest issue was the rechartering of the National Bank. Jackson was against it while Clay was for it and in the end, Jackson won this election with the promise to empower the "common man" of America. -
Jackson's Bank Veto Message
This was Jackson's response as to why he vetoed the rechartering of the Second National Bank. His main reason was that it was unconstitutional because it favored some Americans, but not the rest and it wasn't a "necessary and proper" to carry out the laws. -
Pet Banks
This was the term used to describe the selected few banks to receive large sums of money as deposits from the government. These selected state banks that were entrusted with these large quantities of government money were controlled by Jackson's political friends. Instead of having one large national bank, now they were going to use state banks and scatter the government money. -
Jackson Gradually Shuts Down the Second National Bank
After winning this election a year prior, Jackson interpreted his triumph as a popular mandate to shut down the bank with the support of his followers, so he did. Jackson ordered an end to deposits of government money to the bank, so it would slowly drain it from the money already in its custody due to necessary expenses. This caused the government to scatter the money with select few state banks (became known as "pet banks"). -
The Federal Government Paid off National Debt
After six years in office, President Andrew Jackson finally achieved something that has only ever happened once in American History. He made America a debt free nation for a whole year. When he took office, the national debt was about $58 million, but by selling land in the West, he was able to recover and pay off all of that money and there was even a surplus, but all good things come to an end. -
Specie Circular
This was an executive order issued by President Jackson which required that payments for the purchase of public lands were to be made solely with gold and silver so there wouldn't be an excess production of paper money which would then lower its value. This order ultimately led to the Panic of 1837 and it was repealed on May 21, 1838. -
Panic of 1837
Basically what had happened is that banks everywhere printed out a huge surplus of money and now all paper money was worthless because it lost its value.