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Question: Bank of the United States and Jackson/Adams in the 1820's-30's!?
Can someone please explain (in as much detail as possible) the rivalry between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams around the 1820's-1840's!? I'm also a little unclear on what John Quincy Adams' time in office was like and what the role of the first bank of the United States was!.
General info on all happenings in America during this time period would be MUCH appreciated!. 10 points to the best answer!!Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Well, the Bank of the United States in question at this time was actually the Second Bank of the United States!. It was chartered after the First Bank of the United States charter expired!. Bank charters were for a period of 20 years, and this was chartered following the War of 1812, and its charter was set to expire in 1836!.

Let's talk for a minute about how the US government pays the bills in the early nineteenth century!. In those days there was no income tax!. The Government was responsible for the public lands, and had the right to sell them, and it controlled the ports, and could assess a tariff on any goods imported into the United States!. There had also been a tax on spirits which caused some turmoil in the 1790s!.

So, in order to pay the members of Congress, the President and the cabinet members and staff, the government was selling the lands acquired by treaty with native people!. Land wasn't expensive, but the difficulty of moving to lands in the west and settling on them was costly in both blood and treasure!. There had been some land given to veterans of both the Revolution and the War of 1812, in lieu of cash wages, since the government had no ready cash!. These lands were often sold to speculators, who were able to hold the land until it was more valuable and re-sell it at a profit!. When there wasn't enough of this "Bounty" land, as it was called, they would go to the land offices, like the one at Shawneetown on the Ohio, and buy the land from the government using paper notes, redeemable in gold, if the bank they were drawn on had the gold, or on credit, against the re-sale for a profit by the purchaser!.

This was done widely particularly in the West, Henry Clay, Speaker of the House had extensive land holdings, Andrew Jackson had also speculated in land at one point, in partnership with someone else, who had defaulted, leaving AJ to pay the remainder, which took many years!.

Now, the Bank of the United States (BUS) is an eastern institution intended to hold large deposits, which it can then lend at interest!. It also has the control over the value of currency!. If an ounce of gold was worth $20!.00, the price was set at $20!.00!. It could be manipulated in terms of the market (availability, etc!.) and this is what concerned some people, one of the noisiest being Andrew Jackson!. Suppose they set an artificial price!? The supposes in this worried some westerners, who had no vested interest in a Philadelphia bank!. Jackson, remember he'd been burned in an investment before, was determined to kill the "monster bank"!.

In January 1815, two weeks after the treaty was signed at Ghent ending the War of 1812, Andrew Jackson commanded a force that defeated a substantial British force under Hugh Packenham, the Duke of Wellington's brother in law, outside of New Orleans!. This, the only land victory in that war by the Americans, made Jackson a national hero, and a problem for the administration!. Jackson was a fearce warrior, about all Secretary of State John Quincy Adams needed to do to get Spain to sell us Florida was to hint that he'd turn Jackson loose down there!. It's sort of like a really big dog in your yard, y'know!.

So, Jackson is a weapon, but is he only a weapon that can be used by us or against us!? Now in this crisis over Florida in 1819, the Monroe administration was in an uproar because Jackson had chased the Seminoles into Florida, and captured two British subjects, named Armbrister and Arbuthnot, who were agitating and supplying the Seminoles to raid in Georgia and Alabama, and to encourage slaves to flee to Spanish soil!. There isn't much question that they had been doing this!. Jackson catches them and strings them up!. Britain complains, Washington worries we'll have another war on our hands!. The only member of the administration who defends Jackson's actions was Adams!. John C!. Calhoun supported him, but only to a point!. Adams used this as leverage to gain Florida (the big dog thing), and it worked!. Florida was too expensive for Spain to try and hold, and this "big dog" if let loose might go after Cuba as well!.

You'll notice that Adams was Monroe's Secretary of State!? Well, he's also the author of what is now called the Monroe Doctrine!. James Monroe was Secretary of State before he was President, James Madison had been Jefferson's Secretary of State before he was President, Thomas Jefferson had been Washington's Secretary of State!. Of our first five Presidents, three had been Secretary of State before they attained that office!. It was considered a stepping stone to the Presidency!.

In 1824, Adams, Jackson, Crawford and Clay were all candidates for President!. Adams, Jackson and Crawford had the most Electoral votes, but neither of the three had a clear majority of the entire college!. So, the election is sent to the House of Representatives, where each state is given one vote to choose between the three!. Clay, happens to be Speaker of the House, though he wasn't in the running beWww@QuestionHome@Com