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NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN STEELE GORDON: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

MATTHEW WARSHAUER: 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.

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NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN STEELE GORDON: 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.

NARRATOR: 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 reelection approaching, Jackson had staked his entire presidency on the issue of the bank.

JOHN STEELE GORDON: And it was a triumph for Jackson. He was resoundingly reelected. He was a very popular man. So the Bank of the United States knew that it was toast.

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NARRATOR: 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 placed them in smaller, local banks that he selected personally. His critics called them his pet banks.

MATTHEW WARSHAUER: In order to do that, he has to have the Secretary of the Treasury remove 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. 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 Duane, comes into office and Jackson says, "Well, Mr. Dwayne, I want you to remove the federal deposits." And Duane says, "Well, I'm sorry, Mr. President. I can't do that." And he summarily fires Duane.

The third Secretary of the Treasury is Roger Taney who's moved over from the attorney general position. And Jackson says, "Mr. Taney, I want you to remove the federal deposits." And Taney says, "Well, yes, Mr. President! I'm happy to remove those federal deposits." And now Taney wins as a result of doing this. He ultimately becomes Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when John Marshall passes away.

NARRATOR: Jackson's enemies in the Senate were so infuriated by what they considered 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 laissez-faire as economic power moved away from the federal government and towards private businesses.