Chapter
Three: ANDREW JACKSON: THE LAST ANTI- ELITIST PRESIDENT: The Federal Reserve
Conspiracy by Antony C. Sutton from archive.org
Chapter
Three: ANDREW JACKSON: THE LAST
ANTI- ELITIST PRESIDENT
The
original charter for the Second Bank of the United States was limited in time, unlike the
present Federal Reserve System. A new
charter for the (Second) Bank of the United States to replace the expiring grant was passed by
Congress in July 1832,
and President Andrew Jackson promptly vetoed the charter, with an emphatic message of major historical
interest. According to modern academic
opinion the Jackson veto is
"legalistic, demagogic and full of sham." (1) In fact, on
reading the message today Andrew Jackson
was clearly prophetic in his warnings
and arguments to the American people. In the first inaugural address in
January 1832, Jackson
stated his position on the bank and
renewal of the charter: As the Charter
of the Bank of the United States will
expire in 1836, and its stockholders will most 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 our constituents and
to the parties interested too soon
present it to the 17 The Federal Reserve Conspiracy deliberate consideration of the Legislature
and the people. The constitutionality
of this law has been well questioned..
.because it grants to those who hold stock exclusive privileges of a dangerous tendency. Its
expediency is denied by a large portion
of our citizens. ..and it is believed none will deny that it has failed in the great end of our
establishing a uniform and sound
currency throughout the United States. (2)
Andrew Jackson's personal view on the Second Bank of the United States is contained in a memorandum in
Jackson's own handwriting written in
January, 1832. (3) The opinion shows
how far present constitutional interpretation
has diverged from the intent of our founding fathers. Jackson's
opening argument is that all
"sovereign power is in the people and the states," and then argues that in cases, such as the
power to grant corporations, where the
power is not expressly given to the general (Federal) government, then "no sovereign power not
expressly granted can be exercised, by
implication." The key is "implied power." There are no implied powers in the Constitution. Jackson goes on to argue that it may be
possible for "necessity" to
give power to grant charters to banks and corporations, but this must
be a "positive necessity not a
fained one." And then only within the ten
mile square of Washington, DC itself does Congress have such sovereign power. Jackson argues as follows: It is inconsistent with any of the powers
granted that our government should form
a corporation and become a member of it.
The founders were too well aware of the corrupting influence of a great moneyed monopoly upon government to
legalize such a corrupting monster 18
Andrew Jackson: The Last Anti-Elitist President by any grant either expressed or implied in
the Constitution. The extraordinary
difficulty and massive political power that
Jackson faced in fighting the "money monopoly" and its
influence is shown in his letter to Hugh
L. White, dated April 29, 1831 (Vol. 4,
page 271): The great principles of democracy
which we have both at heart to see
restored to the federal government cannot be
accomplished unless by a united cabinet who labor to this end. The struggles against the rechartering
of the United States Bank are to be met.
The corrupting influence of the Bank
upon the morals of the people and upon Congress are to be fearlessly met.... Many who you would not have supposed have
secretly enlisted in its ranks and
between bank men nullifiers and internal
improvement men it is hard to get a cabinet who will unite with me heart and hand in the great
task of democratic reform in the
administration of our government. By
1833 the struggle over the rechartering of the Bank of the United States had degenerated into a conflict
between Andrew Jackson and his secretary
of the treasury, William J. Duane and
ultimately led to dismissal of Duane. Jackson wanted to withdraw all government deposits from the private Bank
of the United States while Duane refused
to order removal of the deposits. In a
letter dated June 26, 1833 (Vol. 5, page 111) Andrew Jackson expands on his demand for withdrawal
of government deposits from the Bank of
the United States, and proposes that one
bank be selected in each of various cities to receive government deposits. State banks with good
credit would be preferable to the
concentration of 19 The Federal Reserve Conspiracy, government funds in one bank which was a
private monopoly. The letter was accompanied by a paper
explaining Jackson's views on possible government
relations with the Bank of the United
States and the future. Included was this straightforward statement:
The framers (of our Constitution) were too well aware of the corrupting influences of a great
moneyed monopoly upon government to legalize
such a corrupting monster by any grant
either express or implied in the constitution.
Bank corporations are brokers on a large scale, and could it be really urged that the framers of
the Constitution intended that our
Government should become a Government of
Brokers? If so, then the profits of the National Brokers Shop must enure to the benefit of the whole
people, and not a few privileged moneyed
capitalists, to the utter rejection of
the many. The opinion recalled
that in December 1831 Congress
petitioned for a renewal of the bank charter and Jackson had vetoed the bill. As Jackson was then a
candidate for reelection this in effect
brought the veto directly before the electorate and in approving the president the public also
condemned the bill as both
"inexpedient and unconstitutional." In other words Jackson argued that his veto
had already received public approval.
Therefore, Jackson continued, "the duty
of the bank was to wind up its concerns in such a manner that will produce the least pressure upon the money
market." Jackson recalled the
extraordinary and rapid increase of
government debt to the bank which had grown by $28 20
Andrew Jackson: The Last Anti-Elitist President million or 66 percent in a period of 16 months.
Jackson commented as follows: The motive of the enormous extension of
loans can no longer be doubted. It was
unquestionably to gain power in the country
and force the government through the influence of the debtors to grant it a new charter. This must be the first and last statement
from an American President declaring
what many now suspect: that certain banks (but not all bankers) use debt as a political weapon
for control. We cannot include all
bankers because bankers in Catholic countries, for example, are forbidden on grounds of religion from
using debt for control. This would
amount to usury. Jackson goes on to
outline the reasons for his wish to sever
connections between the bank and the government: a leading objection is that the Bank of the
United States has the power and in that
event will have the disposition to crush the
state banks particularly those which may be selected by the government as the depositories of its funds
and thus cause wide spread distress and
ruin throughout the United States. Then
Jackson makes an argument strange to the ears of those reading in the 20th century: The only currency known to the Constitution
of the United States is gold and silver.
This is consequently the only currency
which that instrument delegates to Congress the power to regulate.
This suggests that Andrew Jackson would have considered the present Federal Reserve System, a
private 21 The Federal Reserve Conspiracy bank-owned monopoly, to be unconstitutional
and in fact "the money
monster" in new form.
President Andrew Jackson's final message on March 4, 1837 was unbelievably prophetic in its content - and
the last time an American President was
sufficiently independent of the elitist powers behind the scenes to publicly warn American citizens of
the dangers to their freedoms and
livelihood. Here is an extract from Jackson's final message to the American people: The distress and alarm which pervaded and
agitated the whole country when the Bank
of the United States waged war upon the
people in order to compel them to submit to its demands cannot yet be forgotten. The ruthless and
unsparing temper with which whole cities
and communities were oppressed, individuals
impoverished and ruined, and a scene of cheerful prosperity suddenly changed into one of gloom and
despondency ought to be indelibly
impressed on the memory of the people of the United States.
If such was its power in a time of peace, what would it not have been in a season of war, with an enemy
at your doors? No nation but the free
men of the United States could have come out
victorious from such a contest; yet, if you had not conquered, the government would have passed from the hands
of the many to the few, and this
organized money power, from its secret conclave, would have dictated the choice of your
highest officials and compelled you to
make peace or war, as best suited their own
wishes. (6) Even while Jackson
wrote this message to the American people
our government had passed "from the hands of the many to the hands
of the few." Moreover, the few
"from its 22 Andrew Jackson: The Last Anti-Elitist
President secret enclave" was
already dictating political choices, boom and slump and war and peace. In the United States the Jacksonian
Democrats, the Whig tradition in
American politics, were the last remnant that knew and understood the power behind the scenes. Across the
Atlantic in England the Cobdenites under
Richard Cobden and John Bright tried to maintain a similar torch of individual freedom. They
also failed. As Jackson wrote his last
message, socialist manifestos were being
weighed and put to paper. Not to improve the lot of the common man
as they would have us believe, but as
devices to gain political power for the
elite. 23 The Federal Reserve Conspiracy Endnotes to Chapter Three (1) Bray Hammond, Banks and Politics in
America, (Princeton University Press,
Princeton, 1957) p. 405. It is noteworthy that
Princeton, one of the Ivy League schools, is a scholastic base of the "establishment" and helps
perpetuate this onesided historical
interpretation. (2) James A.
Hamilton, Reminiscences, p. 149. (3)
John Spencer Bassett, ed., Correspondence of Andrew Jackson, (Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C.,
1929-32) vol. 4, p. 389. (4) Ibid., p.
271. Jackson was not a skilled writer. He was a man of action and principle rather than a man of
letters. However, his points are clearly
there for those with eyes to read. (5)
Ibid., p. 92. (6) Richardson's
Messages, Vol. 4, p. 1523. 24 Chapter Four: ROOSEVELT'S SOCIALIST MANIFESTO
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