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Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION –American history in VOA Special English. The national election of eighteenthirty-two put Andrew Jackson in the White House for a second term aspresident. One of the major events of his second term was the fight against theBank of the United States. Jackson believed that the bank had grown toopowerful. He urged Congress not to renew the bank's charter to do business. Healso stopped putting federal money into the Bank of the United States. Instead,he put the money into state banks. The head of the Bank of the United Stateswas Nicholas Biddle. Biddle fought with all his power to keep the bank open. Hecreated a financial panic and blamed it on President Jackson. Biddle did thisby demanding immediate repayment of loans. Businesses struggled without thebank's financial assistance. Workers lost their jobs. President Jackson waswarned that a mob could march on Washington. But nothing happened. Most of thebattle against the Bank of the United States was fought in Congress. Now, inthis week's program in our series, we continue the story with Bob Doughty andSarah Long.
Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky led thesupport for the bank. Clay was head of the opposition political party, theNational Republicans. Clay argued his case on the floor of the Senate for threedays. He strongly urged the Senate to re-new the bank's charter. He said:"Thecountry is in the middle of a revolution...not yet a bloody revolution. Butthings are happening that point to a total change of the pure republicancharacter of our government. Power is being centered in the hands of oneman." He meant President Jackson. Clay added: "If Congress does notact, the government will fail. And we will all die as slaves." Clay thenasked the Senate to condemn Jackson for violating the constitution and thenation's laws. The Senate approved the resolution. Things went better for Jacksonin the House of Representatives. James Polk defended Jackson's opposition tothe bank. Polk said: "The bank setitself up as a great, irresponsible, competing power of the government. If thebank wins this fight, no man afterwards can expect to be elected to high officein this country without first surrendering to the bank. The question is,"Polk said, "if we shall have the republic without the bank or the bankwithout the republic."
Astime passed, businessmen began to see that the Bank of the United States wasbeing much tighter in its money policy than was necessary. They began to feelthat it was Biddle -- not Jackson -- who was responsible for the seriouseconomic situation in the country. Biddle took no responsibility for thefinancial crisis. He said: "The relief must come from Congress, andCongress alone. The bank feels no need to right the wrongs caused by thesemiserable people. This president thinks he is to have his way with the bank. Heis mistaken." Biddle then made a serious mistake. He asked the governor ofPennsylvania to make a speech to the state legislature--a speech supporting thebank. At the same time, Biddle refused to lend the state of Pennsylvania threehundred-thousand dollars. The governor was furious. Instead of making a speechsupporting the bank, he made one that sharply criticized it. The upper house ofthe Pennsylvania legislature agreed with the governor. Although Nicholas Biddlethreatened all sorts of action, the upper house passed a resolution thatCongress should not give the bank a new charter. Two days later, the governorof New York proposed that the state sell four or five million dollars of stockfor loans to help state banks. The New York legislature approved selling evenmore. This action would strengthen the state banks and help to break the powerof the Bank of the United States.
Nicholas Biddle began to see that thebattle was lost. He started making more loans to businesses. The economic paniche had started slowly ended. Jackson's victory over the Bank of the UnitedStates was clear. Biddle started to lose the support of many members ofCongress. In the House of Representatives, James Polk proposed four resolutionson the bank. One said the bank should not get a new charter. The secondresolution said government money should not be deposited in the bank. The thirdsaid the government should continue to put its money in state banks. And thefourth proposed an investigation of the bank and the reasons for the economicpanic in the country. All four of these anti-bank resolutions were approved.One of Biddle's assistants described the feelings of bank officials."Thisday," he said, "should be ripped from the history of our republic.The president of the United States has seized the public treasury in violationof the law of the land. And the representatives of the people have approved hisaction." Jackson's words were shorter: "I have won a glorioustriumph."
The other major event of Andrew Jackson'ssecond term as president was the situation in Texas. In an agreement with Spainin eighteen nineteen, the United States had given up its claim to Texas. Inexchange, Spain gave the United States all of Florida. After Mexico won itsindependence from Spain in eighteen twenty-one, the United States tried to buyTexas. Mexico did not want to sell. When Andrew Jackson became president he,too, tried to buy Texas. Mexico still refused to sell. Texas was a rich land.But it was empty. Mexico decided to permit Americans to build colonies inTexas. Stephen Austin formed the first colony in eighteen twenty-two. Eachfarming family in his colony could have about eighty hectares of land. Eachfamily that wished to raise cattle could have about two thousand hectares. Thesettlers in Texas were able to buy the land for almost nothing. But they had topromise to join the Roman Catholic Church. They also had to promise to obey thelaws of Mexico. Most of the settlers came from the states of Tennessee,Mississippi and Louisiana. Many owned slaves and brought the slaves with themto Texas.
Duringthe eighteen twenties, Americans poured into Texas for the low-priced land. Theleader of one American colony got into trouble with the Mexican government. Hewas ordered to leave, but refused. With the help of a few supporters, he seizedthe town of Nacogdoches. He declared Texas to be an independent republic. Hecalled it Fredonia. This man expected the other American colonists to join himagainst Mexico. He was wrong. Most of the colonists did not support him. Infact, some even joined the Mexican force that put down his rebellion. The manfled back across the border into the United States. The rebellion failed. Butit made Mexican leaders see the danger of continuing to permit Americans tosettle in Texas. The Mexican government sent an official to inspect conditionsalong the border with the United States. The official reported that as hetraveled north through Texas, he saw less and less that was Mexican and moreand more that was American. He said there were very few Mexicans in some towns.And these Mexicans, he said, were extremely poor. He said the American settlerswere not becoming true Mexicans. They were not speaking Spanish. They were notbecoming Roman Catholics. And they were not accepting Mexican traditions. Theofficial said the situation in Texas could throw the whole Mexican nation intorevolution. He urged Mexico to send troops to occupy Texas. That will be ourstory next week.
