the biggest fight of Andrew Jackson's presidency was his battle against the Bank of the United States in 1816 Congress had issued a charter creating the second bank of the United States the Bank stockholders all came from the elite classes of the Northeast and they were appointed not elected the president of the bank was a Philadelphia aristocrat named Nicholas Biddle and Jackson thought that Nicholas Biddle was operating the bank for the benefit of Nicholas Biddle and for his buddies even though it was the sole repository for the federal government's deposits the Bank of the United States remained a private institution while paying out dividends to the government it also made a profit for its stockholders they didn't just simply take the federal deposits and stick them away in a vault they take those deposits and they loan them out and they make money by loaning those deposits out and so the bank is making very very good money at this time period Jackson was the first American president to come from a poor background like many ordinary Americans he hated the idea of a private bank run by a small number of wealthy stockholders Jackson wanted to get rid of it and he said he was going to get rid of it and whenever Jackson said he was going to do something he usually ended up doing it regardless of the opposition when the bank's charter came up for renewal in 1832 Jackson vetoed the bill declaring that the bank was unauthorized by the Constitution subversive of the rights of the states and dangerous to the liberties of the people with his re-election approaching Jackson had staked his entire presidency on the issue of the bank and it was a triumph for Jackson he was resoundingly re-elected he was a very popular man so the Bank of the United States knew that it was toast [Music] once he was reelected Jackson took his revenge on the bank one step further he decided to remove all of the federal government's deposits from the bank and place them in smaller local banks that he selected personally his critics called them his pet banks in order to do that he has to have the secretary of the Treasury removed the deposits the first secretary of the Treasury he goes to he says I want you to remove the deposits and this secretary of the Treasury was a bank man and said well I'm sorry President Jackson ah I can't do that he has this person moved to a different office the second secretary of the Treasury a guy by the name of William Dewayne comes into office and Jackson says well mr. Duane I want you to remove the federal deposits and Dwayne says one sorry mr. president I can't do that and he summarily fires Dwayne the third secretary of the Treasury is Roger tawny who's moved over from the Attorney General position and Jackson says mr. Toney I want you to remove the federal deposit and Tony says well yes mr. president I'm happy to remove those federal deposits and out tawny wins as a result of doing this he ultimately becomes the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when John Marshall passes away Jackson's enemies in the Senate were so infuriated by what they consider Jackson's expansions of presidential power that they formed a new opposition party known as the Whigs and with the death of the bank of the United States in the end of an era of centralized control over America's monetary system the following decades would be a time of less a fair as economic power moved away from the federal government and towards private businesses you