ERROR OF MONS. DE TOCQUEVILLE IN RELATION TO THE BANK OF THE UNITED
STATES, THE PRESIDENT, AND THE PEOPLE.
The first message of President Jackson, delivered at the
commencement of the session of 1829-30, confirmed the hopes
which the democracy had placed in him. It was a message of the
Jeffersonian school, and re-established the land-marks of party, as
parties were when founded on principle. Its salient point was the
Bank of the United States, and the non-renewal of its charter. He
was opposed to the renewal, both on grounds of constitutionality and
expediency; and took this early opportunity of so declaring, both
for the information of the people, and of the institution, that each
might know what they had to rely upon with respect to him. He said:
"The charter of the Bank of the United States expires in 1836,
and its stockholders will probably apply for a renewal of
their privileges. In order to avoid the evils resulting from
precipitancy in a measure involving such important principles,
and such deep pecuniary interests, I feel that I cannot, in
justice to the parties interested, too soon present it to the
deliberate consideration of the legislature and the people.
Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the law
creating this bank are well questioned by a large portion of
our fellow-citizens; and it must be admitted by all that it has
failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound
currency."
This passage was the grand feature of the message, rising above
precedent and judicial decisions going back to the constitution and
the foundation of party on principle; and risking a contest at the
commencement of his administration, which a mere politician would
have put off to the last. The Supreme Court had decided in favor of
the constitutionality of the institution; a democratic Congress,
in chartering a second bank, had yielded the question, both of
constitutionality and expediency. Mr. Madison, in signing the bank
charter in 1816, yielded to the authorities without surrendering
his convictions. But the effect was the same in behalf of the
institution, and against the constitution, and against the integrity
of party founded on principle. It threw down the greatest landmark
of party, and yielded a power of construction which nullified the
limitations of the constitution, and left Congress at liberty to
pass any law which it deemed _necessary_ to carry into effect any
granted power. The whole argument for the bank turned upon the word
"necessary" at the end of the enumerated powers granted to Congress;
and gave rise to the first great division of parties in Washington's
time--the federal party being for the construction which would
authorize a national bank; the democratic party (republican, as then
called,) being against it.
It was not merely the bank which the democracy opposed, but the
latitudinarian construction which would authorize it, and which
would enable Congress to substitute its own will in other cases for
the words of the constitution, and do what it pleased under the
plea of "necessary"--a plea under which they would be left as much
to their own will as under the "general welfare" clause. It was
the turning point between a strong and splendid government on one
side, doing what it pleased, and a plain economical government on
the other, limited by a written constitution. The construction was
the main point, because it made a gap in the constitution through
which Congress could pass any other measures which it deemed to
be "necessary:" still there were great objections to the bank
itself. Experience had shown such an institution to be a political
machine, adverse to free government, mingling in the elections and
legislation of the country, corrupting the press; and exerting its
influence in the only way known to the moneyed power--by corruption.
General Jackson's objections reached both heads of the case--the
unconstitutionality of the bank, and its inexpediency. It was a
return to the Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian times of the early
administration of General Washington, and went to the words of the
constitution, and not to the interpretations of its administrators,
for its meaning.
Such a message, from such a man--a man not apt to look back when
he had set his face forward--electrified the democratic spirit of
the country. The old democracy felt as if they were to see the
constitution restored before they died--the young, as if they were
summoned to the reconstruction of the work of their fathers. It was
evident that a great contest was coming on, and the odds entirely
against the President. On the one side, the undivided phalanx
of the federal party (for they had not then taken the name of
whig); a large part of the democratic party, yielding to precedent
and judicial decision; the bank itself, with its colossal money
power--its arms in every State by means of branches--its power over
the State banks--its power over the business community--over public
men who should become its debtors or retainers--its organization
under a single head, issuing its orders in secret, to be obeyed in
all places and by all subordinates at the same moment. Such was the
formidable array on one side: on the other side a divided democratic
party, disheartened by division, with nothing to rely upon but the
goodness of their cause, the _prestige_ of Jackson's name, and the
presidential power;--good against any thing less than two-thirds of
Congress on the final question of the re-charter; but the risk to
run of his non-election before the final question came on.
Under such circumstances it required a strong sense of duty in the
new President to commence his career by risking such a contest; but
he believed the institution to be unconstitutional and dangerous,
and that it ought to cease to exist; and there was a clause in the
constitution--that constitution which he had sworn to support--which
commanded him to recommend to Congress, for its consideration, such
measures as he should deem expedient and proper. Under this sense
of duty, and under the obligation of this oath, President Jackson
had recommended to Congress the non-renewal of the bank charter,
and the substitution of a different fiscal agent for the operations
of the government--if any such agent was required. And with his
accustomed frankness, and the fairness of a man who has nothing
but the public good in view, and with a disregard of self which
permits no personal consideration to stand in the way of a discharge
of a public duty, he made the recommendation six years before the
expiration of the charter, and in the first message of his first
term; thereby taking upon his hands such an enemy as the Bank of the
United States, at the very commencement of his administration. That
such a recommendation against such an institution should bring upon
the President and his supporters, violent attacks, both personal
and political, with arraignment of motives as well as of reasons,
was naturally to be expected; and that expectation was by no means
disappointed. Both he and they, during the seven years that the
back contest (in different forms) prevailed, received from it--from
the newspaper and periodical press in its interest, and from the
public speakers in its favor of every grade--an accumulation of
obloquy, and even of accusation, only lavished upon the oppressors
and plunderers of nations--a Verres, or a Hastings. This was natural
in such an institution. But President Jackson and his friends had
a right to expect fair treatment from history--from disinterested
history--which should aspire to truth, and which has no right to be
ignorant or careless. He and they had a right to expect justice from
such history; but this is what they have not received. A writer,
whose book takes him out of that class of European travellers
who requite the hospitality of Americans by disparagement of
their institutions, their country, and their character--one whose
general intelligence and candor entitle his errors to the honor of
correction--in brief, M. de Tocqueville--writes thus of President
Jackson and the Bank of the United States:
"When the President attacked the bank, the country was excited
and parties were formed; the well-informed classes rallied round
the bank, the common people round the President. But it must
not be imagined that the people had formed a rational opinion
upon a question which offers so many difficulties to the most
experienced statesman. The bank is a great establishment, which
enjoys an independent existence, and the people, accustomed
to make and unmake whatever it pleases, is startled to meet
with this obstacle to its authority. In the midst of the
perpetual fluctuation of society, the community is irritated
by so permanent an institution, and is led to attack in order
to see whether it can be shaken or controlled, like all other
institutions of the country."--(Chapter 10.)
Of this paragraph, so derogatory to President Jackson and the
people of the United States, every word is an error. Where a fact
is alleged, it is an error; where an opinion is expressed, it is an
error; where a theory is invented, it is fanciful and visionary.
President Jackson did not attack the bank; the bank attacked him,
and for political as well as pecuniary motives; and under the
lead of politicians. When General Jackson, in his first message,
of December, 1829, expressed his opinion to Congress against the
renewal of the bank's charter, he attacked no right or interest
which the bank possessed. It was an institution of limited
existence, enjoying great privileges,--among others a monopoly of
national banking, and had no right to any prolongation of existence
or privilege after the termination of its charter--so far from it,
if there was to be another bank, the doctrine of equal rights and no
monopolies or perpetuities required it to be thrown open to the free
competition of all the citizens. The reasons given by the President
were no attack upon the bank. He impugned neither the integrity nor
the skill of the institution, but repeated the objections of the
political school to which he belonged, and which were as old as Mr.
Jefferson's cabinet opinion to President Washington, in the year
1791, and Mr. Madison's great speech in the House of Representatives
in the same year. He, therefore, made no attack upon the bank,
either upon its existence, its character, or any one of its rights.
On the other hand, the bank did attack President Jackson, under the
lead of politicians, and for the purpose of breaking him down. The
facts were these: President Jackson had communicated his opinion
to Congress in December, 1829, against the renewal of the charter;
near three years afterwards, on the 9th of January, 1832, while
the charter had yet above three years to run, and a new Congress
to be elected before its expiration, and the presidential election
impending--(General Jackson and Mr. Clay the candidates)--the
memorial of the president and directors of the bank was suddenly
presented in the Senate of the United States, for the renewal of its
charter.
Now, how came that memorial to be presented at a time so
inopportune? so premature, so inevitably mixing itself with the
presidential election, and so encroaching upon the rights of the
people, in snatching the question out of their hands, and having
it decided by a Congress not elected for the purpose--and to the
usurpation of the rights of the Congress elected for the purpose?
How came all these anomalies? all these violations of right,
decency and propriety? They came thus, the bank and its leading
anti-Jackson friends believed that the institution was stronger
than the President--that it could beat him in the election--that
it could beat him in Congress (as it then stood), and carry the
charter,--driving him upon the _veto_ power, and rendering him
odious if he used it, and disgracing him if (after what he had
said) he did not. This was the opinion of the leading politicians
friendly to the bank, and inimical to the President. But the bank
had a class of friends in Congress also friendly to Gen. Jackson;
and between these two classes there was vehement opposition of
opinion on the point of moving for the new charter. It was found
impossible, in communications between Washington and Philadelphia,
then slow and uncertain, in stage coach conveyances, over miry roads
and frozen waters, to come to conclusions on the difficult point.
Mr. Biddle and the directors were in doubt, for it would not do to
move in the matter, unless all the friends of the bank in Congress
acted together. In this state of uncertainty, General Cadwallader,
of Philadelphia, friend and confidant of Mr. Biddle, and his usual
envoy in all the delicate bank negotiations or troubles, was sent to
Washington to obtain a result; and the union of both wings of the
bank party in favor of the desired movement. He came, and the mode
of operation was through the machinery of _caucus_--that contrivance
by which a few govern many. The two wings being of different
politics, sat separately, one headed by Mr. Clay, the other by Gen.
Samuel Smith, of Maryland. The two caucuses disagreed, but the
democratic being the smaller, and Mr. Clay's strong will dominating
the other, the resolution was taken to proceed, and all bound to go
together.
I had a friend in one of these councils who informed me regularly
of the progress made, and eventually that the point was carried for
the bank--that General Cadwallader had returned with the news, and
with injunctions to have the memorial immediately at Washington,
and by a given day. The day arrived, but not the memorial, and my
friend came to inform me the reason why; which was, that the stage
had got overturned in the bad roads and crippled Gen. Cadwallader
in the shoulder, and detained him; but that the delay would only be
of two days; and then the memorial would certainly arrive. It did
so; and on Monday, the 9th of January, 1832, was presented in the
Senate by Mr. Dallas, a senator from Pennsylvania, and resident
of Philadelphia, where the bank was established. Mr. Dallas was
democratic, and the friend of General Jackson, and on presenting the
memorial, as good as told all that I have now written, bating only
personal particulars. He said:
"That being requested to present this document to the Senate,
praying for a renewal of the existing charter of the bank, he
begged to be indulged in making a few explanatory remarks. With
unhesitating frankness he wished it to be understood by the
Senate, by the good commonwealth which it was alike his duty and
his pride to represent with fidelity on that floor, and by the
people generally, that this application, at this time, had been
discouraged by him. Actuated mainly, if not exclusively, by a
desire to preserve to the nation the practical benefits of the
institution, the expediency of bringing it forward thus early in
the term of its incorporation, during a popular representation
in Congress which must cease to exist some years before that
term expires, and on the eve of all the excitement incident to a
great political movement, struck his mind as more than doubtful.
He felt deep solicitude and apprehension lest, in the progress
of inquiry, and in the development of views, under present
circumstances, it might be drawn into real or imaginary conflict
with some higher, some more favorite, some more immediate wish
or purpose of the American people; and from such a conflict,
what sincere friend of this useful establishment would not
strive to save or rescue it, by at least a temporary forbearance
or delay?"
This was the language of Mr. Dallas, and it was equivalent to a
protest from a well-wisher of the bank against the perils and
improprieties of its open plunge into the presidential canvass,
for the purpose of defeating General Jackson and electing a friend
of its own. The prudential counsels of such men as Mr. Dallas did
not prevail; political counsels governed; the bank charter was
pushed--was carried through both Houses of Congress--dared the veto
of Jackson--received it--roused the people--and the bank and all
its friends were crushed. Then it affected to have been attacked
by Jackson; and Mons. de Tocqueville has carried that fiction into
history, with all the imaginary reasons for a groundless accusation,
which the bank had invented.
The remainder of this quotation from Mons. de Tocqueville is
profoundly erroneous, and deserves to be exposed, to prevent the
mischiefs which his book might do in Europe, and even in America,
among that class of our people who look to European writers for
information upon their own country. He speaks of the well-informed
classes who rallied round the bank; and the common people who
had formed no rational opinion upon the subject, and who joined
General Jackson. Certainly the great business community, with few
exceptions, comprising wealth, ability and education, went for the
bank, and the masses for General Jackson; but which had formed
the rational opinion is seen by the event. The "well-informed"
classes have bowed not merely to the decision, but to the
intelligence of the masses. They have adopted their opinion of the
institution--condemned it--repudiated it as an "obsolete idea;" and
of all its former advocates, not one exists now. All have yielded
to that instinctive sagacity of the people, which is an overmatch
for book-learning; and which being the result of common sense, is
usually right; and being disinterested, is always honest. I adduce
this instance--a grand national one--of the succumbing of the
well-informed classes to the instinctive sagacity of the people, not
merely to correct Mons. de Tocqueville, but for the higher purpose
of showing the capacity of the people for self-government. The rest
of the quotation, "the independent existence--the people accustomed
to make and unmake--startled at this obstacle--irritated at a
permanent institution--attack in order to shake and control;" all
this is fancy, or as the old English wrote it, fantasy--enlivened by
French vivacity into witty theory, as fallacious as witty.
I could wish I were done with quotations from Mons. de Tocqueville
on this subject; but he forces me to make another extract from his
book, and it is found in his chapter 18, thus:
"The slightest observation enables us to appreciate the
advantages which the country derives from the bank. Its notes
are taken on the borders of the desert for the same value as in
Philadelphia. It is nevertheless the object of great animosity.
Its directors have proclaimed their hostility to the President,
and are accused, not without some show of probability, of having
abused their influence to thwart his election. The President,
therefore, attacks the establishment with all the warmth of
personal enmity; and he is encouraged in the pursuit of his
revenge by the conviction that he is supported by the secret
propensities of the majority. It always holds a great number
of the notes issued by the provincial banks, which it can at
any time oblige them to convert into cash. It has itself
nothing to fear from a similar demand, as the extent of its
resources enables it to meet all claims. But the existence of
the provincial banks is thus threatened, and their operations
are restricted, since they are only able to issue a quantity
of notes duly proportioned to their capital. They submit with
impatience to this salutary control. The newspapers which they
have bought over, and the President, whose interest renders him
their instrument, attack the bank with the greatest vehemence.
They rouse the local passions and the blind democratic instinct
of the country to aid in their cause; and they assert that
the bank directors form a permanent aristocratic body, whose
influence must ultimately be felt in the government, and must
affect those principles of equality--upon which society rests in
America."
Now, while Mons. de Tocqueville was arranging all this fine
encomium upon the bank, and all this censure upon its adversaries,
the whole of which is nothing but a French translation of the
bank publications of the day, for itself and against President
Jackson--during all this time there was a process going on in the
Congress of the United States, by which it was proved that the bank
was then insolvent, and living from day to day upon expedients; and
getting hold of property and money by contrivances which the law
would qualify as swindling--plundering its own stockholders--and
bribing individuals, institutions, and members of legislative
bodies, wherever it could be done. Those fine notes, of which he
speaks, were then without solid value. The salutary restraint
attributed to its control over local banks was soon exemplified in
its forcing many of them into complicity in its crimes, and all
into two general suspensions of specie payments, headed by itself.
Its solidity and its honor were soon shown in open bankruptcy--in
the dishonor of its notes--the violation of sacred deposits--the
disappearance of its capital--the destruction of institutions
connected with it--the extinction of fifty-six millions of capital
(its own, and that of others drawn into its vortex);--and the ruin
or damage of families, both foreign and American, who had been
induced by its name, and by its delusive exhibitions of credit,
to invest their money in its stock. Placing the opposition of
President Jackson to such an institution to the account of base and
personal motives--to feelings of revenge because he had been unable
to seduce it into his support--is an error of fact manifested by
all the history of the case; to say nothing of his own personal
character. He was a senator in Congress during the existence of
the first national bank, and was against it; and on the same
grounds of unconstitutionality and of inexpediency. He delivered
his opinion against this second one before it had manifested any
hostility to him. His first opposition was abstract--against the
institution--without reference to its conduct; he knew nothing
against it then, and neither said, or insinuated any thing against
it. Subsequently, when misconduct was discovered, he charged it;
and openly and responsibly. Equally unfounded is the insinuation in
another place, of subserviency to local banks. He, the instrument of
local banks! he who could not be made the friend, even, of the great
bank itself; who was all his life a hard money man--an opposer of
all banks--the denouncer of delinquent banks in his own State; who,
with one stroke of his pen, in the recess of Congress, and against
its will, in the summer of 1836, struck all their notes from the
list of land-office payments! and whose last message to Congress,
and in his farewell address to the people, admonished them earnestly
and affectionately against the whole system of paper money--the
evils of which he feelingly described as falling heaviest upon the
most meritorious part of the community, and the part least able to
bear them--the productive classes.
The object of this chapter is to correct this error of Mons.
de Tocqueville, and to vindicate history, and to do justice to
General Jackson and the democracy: and my task is easy. Events
have done it for me--have answered every question on which the
bank controversy depended, and have nullified every argument in
favor of the bank--and that both with, and without reference
to its misconduct. As an institution, it has been proved to be
"unnecessary," and the country is found to do infinitely better
without it than with it. During the twenty years of its existence
there was pecuniary distress in the country--periodical returns of
expansion and contraction, deranged currency, ruined exchanges,
panics and convulsions in the money market. In the almost twenty
years which have elapsed since, these calamitous words have never
been heard: and the contrast of the two periods will make the
condemnation of one, and the eulogy of the other. There was no gold
during the existence of the bank: there has been an ample gold
currency ever since, and that before we got California. There were
general suspensions of specie payments during its time; and none
since. Exchanges were deranged during its existence: they have been
regular since its death. Labor and property lived the life of "up
and down"--high price one day, no price another day--while the bank
ruled: both have been "up" all the time, since it has been gone.
We have had a war since--a foreign war--which tries the strength
of financial systems in all countries; and have gone through this
war not only without a financial crisis, but with a financial
triumph--the public securities remaining above par the whole time;
and the government paying to its war debt creditors a reward
of twenty dollars upon the hundred to get them to accept their
pay before it is due; and in this shining side of the contrast,
experience has invalidated the decision of the Supreme Court,
by expunging the sole argument upon which the decision rested.
"Necessity," "necessary to carry into effect the granted powers,"
was the decision of the court. Not so, the voice of experience. That
has proved such an institution to be unnecessary. Every granted
power, and some not granted, have been carried into effect since the
extinction of the national bank, and since the substitution of the
gold currency and the independent treasury; and all with triumphant
success--the war power above all, and most successfully exercised
of all. And this sole foundation for the court's decision in favor
of the constitutionality of the bank being removed, the decision
itself vanishes--disappears--"like the baseless fabric of a vision,
leaving not a wreck behind." But there will be a time hereafter for
the celebration of this victory of the constitution over the Supreme
Court--the only object of this chapter being to vindicate General
Jackson and the people from the errors of Mons. de Tocqueville in
relation to them and the bank: which is done.