The nullification issue still unresolved, another controversy…

The nullification issue still unresolved, another controversy arises to challenge Jackson's leadership, this one concerning the rechartering of the Second Bank of the United States.

Doubtful of the institutions’ constitutional legitimacy and angered by political opposition from some of the bank’s directors, Jackson vows to kill the bank.

The First Bank of the United States, established in 1791 under the guidance of Alexander Hamilton, had been chartered for a twenty-year period.

Though the government had held some of its stock, it was not a government bank; rather, the bank was a private corporation with profits passing to its stockholders.

It had been designed to stabilize the currency and stimulate trade, but Westerners and working people, believed that it was granting special favors to a few powerful men, resented the bank.

Upon the expiration of the charter in 1811, the government had not renewed it.

For the next few years, the banking business had been in the hands of state-chartered banks, which issued currency in excessive amounts, creating great confusion and fueling inflation and concerns that state banks could not provide the country with a uniform currency.

In 1816, a Second Bank of the United States, similar to the first, had again been chartered for twenty years.

From its inception, the second Bank was unpopular in the newer states and territories and with less prosperous people everywhere.

Opponents claim the bank possesses a virtual monopoly over the country's credit and currency, and reiterate that it represents the interests of the wealthy few.

Jackson, elected as a popular champion against it, vetoes a bill to recharter the bank, stating that it has failed to provide a stable currency, has favored the privileged few at the expense of the common people in its financial operations, and has received a charter in violation of the Constitution.

In his message to Congress, he denounces monopoly and special privilege, saying, "our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act of Congress.” The effort to override the veto fails.

In the election campaign that follows, the bank question causes a fundamental division between the merchant, manufacturing and financial interests (generally creditors who favor tight money and high interest rates), and the laboring and agrarian sectors, who are often in debt to banks and therefore favor an increased money supply and lower interest rates.

Bank president Nicholas Biddle attempts an alliance with Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, who runs for the presidency in 1832, campaigning on the bank’s behalf and against the growth of presidential power.

The Anti-Masonic Party runs ex-Mason William Wirt for the 1832 Presidential campaign, which effectively ensures the re-election of Andrew Jackson, a Mason.

Wirt carries only one state, Vermont.

The outcome is an enthusiastic endorsement of "Jacksonism.”

The president sees his reelection in 1832 as a popular mandate to crush the bank irrevocably—and finds a ready-made weapon in a provision of the bank's charter authorizing removal of public funds.