Page 272 - American Stories, A History of the United States

Read the Document Andrew Jackson, veto of the bank bill (1832) 10.1

10.2

10.3

10.4

A HyDrA-HeADeD BANk Aided by van Buren (center), Jackson wields his veto rod against the
Bank of the United States, whose heads represent the directors of the state branches. Bank president
Nicholas Biddle is wearing the top hat. in ancient mythology the Hydra was a snake with many heads;
each time one was cut another would sprout and it would not die.
SOURCe: library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [lC-USZ62-1575]

The emergence of the Whigs
The coalition that passed the censure resolution in the Senate provided the nucleus
for a new national party—the Whigs. Its leadership and most of its support came
from National Republicans associated with Clay and New England ex-Federalists
led by Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. Southern proponents of states’
rights who had been upset by Jackson’s stand on nullification and saw his with-
drawal of federal deposits from the Bank as an unconstitutional abuse of power also
supported the Whigs. Even Calhoun and his nullifiers occasionally cooperated with
the Whig camp. The rallying cry for this diverse anti-Jackson coalition was “execu-
tive usurpation.” The Whig label was chosen because of its associations with British
and American revolutionary opposition to royal power and prerogatives. In their
propaganda, the Whigs attacked the tyrannical designs of “King Andrew” and his
court.
The Whigs also gradually absorbed the Anti-Masonic party, a surprisingly
strong political movement that had arisen in the Northeast in the late 1820s and
early 1830s. Capitalizing on the hysteria aroused by the 1826 disappearance and
apparent murder of a New Yorker who had threatened to reveal the secrets of the
Masonic order, the Anti-Masons exploited traditional American fears of secret soci-
eties and conspiracies. They also appealed to the moral concerns of the northern
middle class under the sway of an emerging evangelical Protestantism. Anti-Masons
detested Jacksonianism mainly because it tolerated diverse lifestyles. They believed
that the government should restrict such “sinful” behavior as drinking, gambling,
and breaking the Sabbath. But this diverse Whig coalition could not agree on a single
candidate and lost the 1836 presidential election to Jackson’s designated successor,
Martin Van Buren. Nevertheless, the Whigs ran even with the Democrats in the
South. (See Table 10.3.) Panic of 1837 A financial
President Van Buren immediately faced a catastrophic depression, known as the depression that lasted until the
Panic of 1837. This was not exclusively, or even primarily, the result of government 1840s. 239