Abolishing the Bank of the United States

The second Bank of the United States (BUS) was founded in 1816 on the basis of a twenty-year charter. The charter authorized the bank to act exclusively as the federal government's economic agent, holding its deposits and making inter-state transfers of federal funds. It also had the right to issue bank notes and carry out the usual commercial banking activities.

However, the validity of the bank came under scrutiny by President Andrew Jackson and his administration. The political environment around that period was marked by ideology known as Jacksonism, which focused on agrarianism and nationalism. As a result, the Philadelphia based bank of the United States, with its aristocratic president, Nicholas Biddle, was hardly popular with this new regime. The Bank of the United States should be abolished because it violates state's rights as well as the liberties of the common people of the United States.

Firstly, the BUS is a monopolistic establishment, " ...the bounty of our Government is proposed to be bestowed on the few who have been fortunate enough to secure stock and at this moment wield the power of the existing institution." Due to the influences of the rich, government rules and regulations are often bent to fit their needs and result in them not being content with "equal protection and equal benefits," but rather wanting even more power and control. Consequently, the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. This is an injustice to the common people, such as farmers, who don't have the resources or the contacts to obtain "favors" by the bank or government.

Furthermore, the States have the right to tax the banking institutions created by BUS throughout the Union, however it is only applicable to stockholders living in or citizens of each State. Foreigners, who hold most of the stock, are exempt from the tax. As a result, "when by a tax on resident stockholders the stock of the bank is made worth 10 or 15 percent more to foreigners than to residents."