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Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION --American history in VOA Special English. Andrew Jackson was elected presidentin eighteen twenty-eight. He was popular with voters. But he was not sure hewanted to run for re-election in eighteen thirty-two. He was getting old. Hesuffered from health problems. Yet he wanted to give voters a chance to showtheir approval of his programs. So Jackson made a decision. He would run again.If he won, however, he would resign after the first or second year. He wouldleave the job to his vice president. Now, this week in our series, RichKleinfeldt and Sarah Long continue the story of Andrew Jackson and hispresidency.
President Jackson spoke of this plan to theman he wanted as his vice president, Martin Van Buren. He made the offer ineighteen thirty, when Van Buren was still his secretary of state. Van Burenthanked Jackson for the offer. However, he rejected it. Van Buren said it wouldbe politically dangerous. He did not want anyone to say that he had beenbrought into the presidency in secret. Jackson did not give up his idea. Formore than a year, he continued to urge Van Buren to accept the offer. Van Burencontinued to say no. He agreed to be Jackson's vice presidential candidate ineighteen thirty-two. But he said he did not want to become president withoutbeing elected by the people. As the election got closer, Jackson's health beganto improve. He began to think about serving a second full term. One thing thathelped was an operation to remove a bullet from his arm. He had received thewound during a gun fight with another man about twenty years earlier. Ittroubled him so badly that sometimes he could not use the arm. Doctors wereafraid to remove the bullet. They thought it might cause a terrible shock tohis heart. Early in the election year, a doctor said he believed the bulletcould be removed easily. He told the president that it was poisoning his wholebody. Jackson asked the doctor to cut out the bullet at once. The operation wasover in a few minutes. Jackson's health quickly became much better. A funnylittle story was told about that bullet. Someone reportedly said Jackson shouldgive it to the family of the man who shot him.
Onefamily member rejected the offer. He said Jackson had possessed the bullet fortwenty years. So, he said, under the law, Jackson had clear ownership to it."Only nineteen years," someone noted. "Oh," the man said,"that is all right. Since Jackson took good care of it, I will forget theextra year." The presidential election campaign of eighteen thirty-two wasbitter. President Jackson was, once again, the candidate of the DemocraticParty. Henry Clay was the candidate of the National Republican Party. Clay hadthe support of Nicholas Biddle, who was head of the Bank of the United States.He also had the support of about two-thirds of the nation's newspapers. Thiswas because most of them owed money to the bank. Most wealthy people supportedClay, too. Farmers and laborers supported Jackson. They showed their support bymarching in parades and holding big, noisy public meetings. On election day,the people showed that Jackson was still their president. There was a muchbigger difference in popular votes between Jackson and Clay than betweenJackson and John Quincy Adams four years earlier. As the votes were counted,one of Clay's supporters said: "The news blows over us like a great coldstorm." Jackson received about six hundred eighty-eight thousand popularvotes. Clay received about four hundred seventy-three thousand votes. In theelectoral college, Jackson got more than four times the number of votes thanClay got. Jackson's vice president would be Martin Van Buren.
Andrew Jackson saw his re-election as proofthat the American people approved of his policies. This included his policy toclose the Bank of the United States when its charter ended in eighteenthirty-six. During his second term, Jackson decided on a plan to reduce thebank's economic power. He would stop putting federal money into the bank.Instead, he would put it into state banks. This would greatly reduce the amountof money the Bank of the United States could use. The plan was not as easy asit seemed. The charter for the bank said federal money had to be kept thereunless the secretary of the treasury ordered it put someplace else. PresidentJackson's treasury secretary was friendly to the bank. He would not give theorder. Jackson would have to dismiss the man and appoint someone who supportedhis plan. But the treasury secretary was a powerful politician. Jackson couldnot push him out of the job. He had to find another way. So he decided toreorganize his whole cabinet. Jackson named his secretary of state to beminister to France. He named his treasury secretary to be secretary of state.Then he brought in someone new as secretary of the treasury. That turned out tobe a mistake.
The new treasury secretary refused to putfederal money anywhere but in the Bank of the United States. He also refused toresign when Jackson asked him to resign. So Jackson dismissed him and named yetanother new treasury secretary. This man immediately ordered that after Octoberfirst, eighteen thirty-three, all federal money was to be put into twenty-threestate banks. He did not withdraw the government money already in the Bank ofthe United States. He said this money could be used to make payments until itwas all gone. Nicholas Biddle, the head of the bank, fought back. He orderedthe immediate repayment of all bank loans. He also withdrew from public uselarge numbers of bank notes. People had been using the notes as money. Theseactions caused serious economic difficulties throughout the country. Manybusinesses failed. They could not pay back their loans or borrow the money theyneeded. As businesses failed, workers lost their jobs.
NicholasBiddle said the Jackson administration was responsible for all the trouble. Hesaid the bank was forced to take firm measures, because it was losinggovernment money. He told people to protest to the administration. Critics ofPresident Jackson's bank policy called him "King Andrew the First."Groups of businessmen called on the president at the White House. They urgedhim to put government money back into the bank. Jackson told one group: "Iwill never restore the money. I will never renew the charter of the Bank of theUnited States. If you want help, go to Nicholas Biddle. " The president'sactions worried even some of his supporters. There could be serious long-termeffects of closing the Bank of the United States. Some of his supporters inCongress went to see him. They warned him of reports that a mob was forming tomarch on Washington. They told him that the mob planned to seize the Capitolbuilding until Congress returned government money to the bank. "Gentlemen,"Jackson said, "I will be glad to see this mob on Capitol Hill. I will hangits leaders high. That should stop forever all attempts to control Congress byforce." We will continue our story of Andrew Jackson's second term aspresident next week.
