Congress censures Jackson - Mar 28, 1834 - HISTORY.com

Thanks for reminding us TSgt Joe C. that on March 28, 1834 antebellum-Democrat President Andrew Jackson was censured by Congress for refusing to turn over his cabinet’s papers to dismantle the Bank of the United States.

Not surprisingly to the historically aware folks, this largely symbolic censure failed to stop Jackson from revamping the federal banking system. Democrats regained the majority in the Senate in 1837 and had Jackson’s censure expunged from the record.

President Jackson had hoped to find a friendlier source of funds for his western expansion plans.

Andrew Jackson vs. The Bankers
"Bank veto and Election of 1832: Bank War and Banking in the Jacksonian Era 1833 Democratic cartoon shows Jackson destroying the devil's Bank In 1816 the Second Bank of the United States was charted by President James Madison to restore the United States economy devastated by the War of 1812. In 1823 President James Monroe appointed Nicholas Biddle, the Bank's third and last executive, to run the bank. In January 1832 Biddle, on advice from his friends, submitted to Congress a renewal of the Bank's charter four years before the original 20 year charter was to end. Biddle's recharter bill passed the Senate on June 11 and the House on July 3, 1832. Jackson, believing that Bank was fundamentally a corrupt monopoly whose stock was mostly held by foreigners, vetoed the bill. Jackson used the issue to promote his democratic values believing the Bank was being run exclusively for the wealthy. Jackson stated the Bank made "the rich richer and the potent more powerful." The National Republican Party immediately made Jackson's veto of the Bank a political issue attempting to undermine Jackson's popularity. Jackson's political opponents castigated Jackson's veto as "the very slang of the leveller and demagogue" believing Jackson was using class warfare to gain support from the common man.

During the 1832 Presidential Election the rechartering of the Second National Bank became the primary issue.The election also demonstrated the rapid development and organization of political parties during this time period.[76] The Democratic Party's first national convention, held in Baltimore, in May 1832 nominated Jackson of Tennessee and Martin Van Buren of New York. The National Republican Party, who had held their first convention in Baltimore earlier in December 1831, nominated Henry Clay, senator from Kentucky and former Speaker of the House, and John Sergeant of Pennsylvania. The Anti-Mason party, who had earlier held their convention also in Baltimore in September 1831, nominated William Wirt of Maryland and Amos Elmaker of Pennsylvania; both Jackson and Clay were masons. The two rival parties, however, proved to be no match for Jackson's popularity and the Democratic Party's strong political networks known as Hickory Clubs in state and local organization. Democratic newspapers, parades, barbecues, and rallies increased Jackson's popularity. Jackson himself made numerous popular public appearances on his return trip from Tennessee to Washington D.C. Jackson won the election decisively by a landslide receiving 55 percent of the popular vote and 219 electoral votes. Clay received 37 percent of the popular vote and 49 electoral votes. Wirt received only 8 percent of the popular vote and 7 electoral votes while the Anti-Masonic Party folded. Jackson believed the solid victory was a popular mandate for his veto of the Bank's recharter and his continued warfare on the Bank's control over the national economy. Removal of deposits and censure:

In 1833, Jackson removed federal deposits from the bank, whose money-lending functions were taken over by the legions of local and state banks that materialized across America, thus drastically increasing credit and speculation. Three years later, Jackson issued the Specie Circular, an executive order that required buyers of government lands to pay in "specie" (gold or silver coins). The result was a great demand for specie, which many banks did not have enough of to exchange for their notes, causing the Panic of 1837, which threw the national economy into a deep depression. It took years for the economy to recover from the damage, however the bulk of the damage was blamed on Martin Van Buren, who took office in 1837. Whitehouse.gov notes,

Basically the trouble was the 19th-century cyclical economy of "boom and bust," which was following its regular pattern, but Jackson's financial measures contributed to the crash. His destruction of the Second Bank of the United States had removed restrictions upon the inflationary practices of some state banks; wild speculation in lands, based on easy bank credit, had swept the West. To end this speculation, Jackson in 1836 had issued a Specie Circular requiring that lands be purchased with hard money--gold or silver. In 1837 the panic began. Hundreds of banks and businesses failed. Thousands lost their lands. For about five years the United States was wracked by the worst depression thus far in its history."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m9FAtWzuFQ


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TSgt Joe C. thanks for the awesome historical share of POTUS in 1834 of Andrew Jackson.

He was quite a man. History channel had him featured last night on "Men Who Built America". He was a man you did not want to cross, he ruined Davey Crockett in TN which made him go to Texas.