The Battle over the Charter of the Second Bank of the United States and Its Lasting Impact on the American Economy Late one night in July 1832, Martin Van Buren rushed to the White House where he found an ailing President Andrew Jackson weakened but resolute. Thundering against his political antagonists, Jackson bellowed: "The Bank, Mr. Van Buren, is trying to kill me, but I shall kill it!"With those famous words, Jackson formally declared "war" against the Second Bank of the United States and its president Nicholas Biddle. The Bank of the United States, which held the majority of Federal monies, had been established as a means of centralizing and stabilizing American currency and the economy, particularly during the country's vulnerable early years. Jackson and his allies viewed the bank as both elitist and a threat to states' rights. Throughout his first term, Jackson had attacked the bank viciously but failed to take action against the institution. Congress' decision to recharter the bank forced Jackson to either make good on his rhetoric and veto the recharter or sign the recharter bill and be condemned as a hypocrite. In The Bank War: Andrew Jackson, Nicholas Biddle, and the Fight for American Finance, historian Paul Kahan explores one of the most important and dramatic events in American political and economic history, from the idea of centralized banking and the First Bank of the United States to Jackson's triumph, the era of "free banking," and the creation of the Federal Reserve System. Relying on a range of primary and secondary source material, the book also shows how the Bank War was a manifestation of the debates that were sparked at the Constitutional Convention--the role of the executive branch and the role of the federal government in American society--debates that endure to this day as philosophical differences that often divide the United States.

Examines Jackson's role in destroying the Second Bank of the United States and the effect of his actions on the power of the Presidency

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author of The First American comes the first major single-volume biography in a decade of the president who defined American democracy • "A big, rich biography.” —The Boston Globe H. W. Brands reshapes our understanding of this fascinating man, and of the Age of Democracy that he ushered in. An orphan at a young age and without formal education or the family lineage of the Founding Fathers, Jackson showed that the presidency was not the exclusive province of the wealthy and the well-born but could truly be held by a man of the people. On a majestic, sweeping scale Brands re-creates Jackson’s rise from his hardscrabble roots to his days as frontier lawyer, then on to his heroic victory in the Battle of New Orleans, and finally to the White House. Capturing Jackson’s outsized life and deep impact on American history, Brands also explores his controversial actions, from his unapologetic expansionism to the disgraceful Trail of Tears. Look for H.W. Brands's other biographies: THE FIRST AMERICAN (Benjamin Franklin), THE MAN WHO SAVED THE UNION (Ulysses S. Grant), TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS (Franklin Roosevelt) and REAGAN.

Reveals how the Rothschild Banking Dynasty fomented war and assassination attempts on 4 presidents in order to create the Federal Reserve Bank • Explains how the Rothschild family began the War of 1812 because Congress failed to renew a 20-year charter for their Central Bank as well as how the ensuing debt of the war forced Congress to renew the charter • Details Andrew Jackson’s anti-bank presidential campaigns, his war on Rothschild agents within the government, and his successful defeat of the Central Bank • Reveals how the Rothschilds spurred the Civil War and were behind the assassination of Lincoln In this startling investigation into the suppressed history of America in the 1800s, Xaviant Haze reveals how the powerful Rothschild banking family and the Central Banking System, now known as the Federal Reserve Bank, provide a continuous thread of connection between the War of 1812, the Civil War, the financial crises of the 1800s, and assassination attempts on Presidents Jackson and Lincoln. The author reveals how the War of 1812 began after Congress failed to renew a 20-year charter for the Central Bank. After the war, the ensuing debt forced Congress to grant the central banking scheme another 20-year charter. The author explains how this spurred General Andrew Jackson--fed up with the central bank system and Nathan Rothschild’s control of Congress--to enter politics and become president in 1828. Citing the financial crises engineered by the banks, Jackson spent his first term weeding out Rothschild agents from the government. After being re-elected to a 2nd term with the slogan “Jackson and No Bank,” he became the only president to ever pay off the national debt. When the Central Bank’s charter came up for renewal in 1836, he successfully rallied Congress to vote against it. The author explains how, after failing to regain their power politically, the Rothschilds plunged the country into Civil War. He shows how Lincoln created a system allowing the U.S. to furnish its own money, without need for a Central Bank, and how this led to his assassination by a Rothschild agent. With Lincoln out of the picture, the Rothschilds were able to wipe out his prosperous monetary system, which plunged the country into high unemployment and recession and laid the foundation for the later formation of the Federal Reserve Bank--a banking scheme still in place in America today.