The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
AN EXPOSITION
OF THE COURSE AND PRINCIPLES
OF THE
NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
IN RELATION
TO THE CUSTODY OF THE
.
PUBLIC MONEYS.
BY ONE WHO FOR THE LAST NINE YEARS HAS BEEN INTIMATELY
ACQUAINTED WITH THOSE WHO HAVE CONTROLLED
THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS
OF THE
GOVERNMENT,
PHILADELPHIA,
AT THE OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL LABOEB*.
1833.
&O1TB
AVMHTA
EXPOSITION,
&c.
The persevering and unjust attacks which annual messages of December, 1830 and
made upon the late and present Admin- 1831.
In the mean time, the bank had taken the
istrations, in reference to banks and the publie revenue, induce one who has been inti- alarm, and put in requisition all its means of
mately acquainted with those who have con- influence. It hired writers, paid for the
are
trolled the Executive Departments of the
General government for the last nine years,
to ask your patient attention, while he discloses, in sincerity and truth, the motives by
which he believes they have been actuated r
and the objects they hare desired to a^complish.
printing and circulation of documents, corrupted editors by fat jobs and exorbitant and
unusual loans upon nominal security, conciliated members of Congress and public officers by extraordinary favors; and, through
hundreds of presses and thousand*? of orators,
put in motion by its means, filled the COUR-
RETROSPECT.
try with argument and declamation in its faGenera} Jackson's hostility to the Bank of vor.
the United States, not from any private conNotwithstanding the partial disclosure of
siderations, but from a deep conviction that these abuses by the committee of investigait was
dangerous to the liberties of the coun- tion at the session of 1831-2, the bank had
try, existed long before he came to Wash- sufficient power in. Congress to procure the
ington to enter upon the function* of Chiet passage of an act re-chartering it by a heavy
In. a draft of his inaugural ad- majority.
General Jackson hesitated as to
Magistrate.
dress, prepared in Tennessee, before he had his course as little as he did at New Orleans
ever seen those \vho, it ha? since been alleg- in December, 1814, when he heard that the
ed, controlled him on this point, there was British had landed below the city. He gave
a passage in opposition to that bank, which r a direct veto to the bank, as both inexpediarier his arrival in Washington, he was in- ent and unconstitutional, and submitted the
duced to omit. While his first annual raes- question, whether there should be a Bank
sage was in preparation, it ia known that all of the United States or not, directly to be
him from touching tested upon his re-election.
The people
inasmuch as it seemed to re-elected him almost by acclamation, and
them unnecessary, if not prematuio; but he thereby decided against a_ Bank of the United
his counsellors dissuaded
upon that
was then
topic,
inflexible. *'/ cannot sleep upon
pillow." said he, "if I should omit to call
the attention of my countrymen to the dangersofthat institution." He therefore, contrary to the wishes of his friends, even those
who agreed with him in opinion, called the
attention of the coarrtry to the approaching
termination of its charter, and to the constitntionality as well as expediency of its reaewal. It produced report^ in favor of the
institution from committees of both the
Senato and House of Representatives, whish
were widely circulated through the couni?/
States.
though shown to be
with abuses, and rejected by the peopie, did hot relinquish the hope of a continued existence. It had the public moneys in
its keeping, and on every side it was renewStill that institution,
lo ided
ing-
and strengthening
men and
its
hold upon public
with the evident object
of renewing the struggle on the first favorainstitutions,
This consideration, together
with the necessity of providing_a new systern of depcwite- prior to the expiration of the
ble occasion.
bank's charter, its interference to prevent the payment of the national debt,
A though the banli appeared to bo almost ita corrupt ''facilities" to editors and othomnipotent in the two houses of Congress, er^ the application of its funds, to poliand there wore scarcely half a doz( n Exe- tical p.irposes, the exclusion: of Governcutire officers who raised their voices against ment directors from its business,, tlie
placit, the Hero of New Orleans
again intro- ing of its funds at the disposition of the
<>uced the subject more at length in Lia president* to bo expended without account*try.
I
6
ofthe administration. On the contrary, they
were taken to defeat its policy, and in opposition t.o its wishes and will.
Let us now look at the position at present
occupied by the Administration, the policy
it has pursued, and the measures it
proposes
in reference to its own duties, and the curthe
of
rency
country.
SUSPENSION OK SPECIE PAYMENTS, AND THE
back to England a
which Mr. Biddle's pacurtailments had forced away, and put
an end to the swelling bubble which was rising out of the interchange of credit between
the two countries.
Did Gen. Jackson recommend the sudden
displacement of large sums of public money
which had entered into the banking operao!
a foolish desire
to force
portion ofthe specie
Lnic
tions of particular places, for the purpose of
COURSE OF THE ADMINISTRATION THEREUPON.
depositing it with the States, thereby inThe people had decided against having a
creasing the embarrassments ofthe bank?
No: it is well known that he was opposed to Bank of the United States in the re-election
that measure, and signed the bill with reluc- of General Jackson, and Congress had providtance.
ed by law for the safe-keeping ofthe pubAnd what act of Mr. Van Buren produced lic money in certain State banks. By the
or hastened the catastrophe"!
None what- Constitution and laws of the United States,
He did indeed decline rescinding the nothing but gold and silver, or their equivaever.
Specie Circular, being satisfied that its ope- lent, could be received or paid out by the
rations were salutary both upon the country General Government; and the deposite law
and the banks.
itself prohibited the employment of any
The causes ofthe suspension of specie bank as a depository, which did not pay its
payments, are not then to be looked for in notes in gold and silver. All the funds ofthe
the acts or designs of the Administration, Government, both ofthe Treasury and Post
but chiefly in the mismanagement of the Office Departments, were deposited in State
banks, in which the Bank of the United banks.
States took the lead. That the design of
Simultaneously, nearly every bank in the
Mr. Biddle and his political associates was Union stopped payment. Treating the Govto produce this very result, is by no means ernment as they did the rest of their crediIt is a part of history that they tors, the bank refused to pay the warrants
improbable.
did, during the panic, coolly and deliberate- of the Treasury and the Post Office in any
notes which
ly, "calm as a summer's morning," pur- thing but their own rotes
sue a course which produced the suspension could not be legally offered toa public creditor
of several banks, and put many others in in payment. Threats of violence were used
jeopardy, with the single view of controll- in Boston, New York, and at other places,
ing the Government through the distresses with the view of compelling the Executive
-ofthe people, producing a restoration ofthe to violate the plainest laws, in receiving dedeposites, and a re-charter of the bank. preciated and irredeemable paper for all pubWhat would have been the extent of this lic dues. These threats were disregarded,
suspension, had not the policy ofthe bank and the public dues collected in gold and silbeen counteracted by an immense influx of ver. But there was a difficulty in complybut men ing with the laws in paying the public crespecie, it is impossible to know
who were capable of conspiring to accom- ditors, and the funds ofthe Government beplish their objects in one mode are not too ing shut up in the banks, from which nothinggood to conspire its accomplishment in ano- but irredeemable paper could be obtained.
The throwing out of twenty millions By the Post Office Department, the diffither.
by Mr. Biddle, obtaining in Europe, and ex- culty was soon surmounted. The current
tending his credit in every direction, was income of that Department being equal to
the most insidious and at the same time the its current expenditure, it was only necessamost effective means to tempt the State ry to have its income paid in specie, to meet
banks upon dangerous ground, which could all its expenditures in the same currency.
have been devised. They had that effect, Prompt and successful steps were taken to
and led the whale army ofbanks into a posi- effect that object, and not a warrant of the
tion where they were unable to withstand Postmaster General has been returned profor a month the operations of an adverse tested since the suspension, which has not
To the banks themselves, therefore, been promptly paid in specie; and for several
trade.
the whole mischief is to be ascribed, and months past, all payments have been made
chiefly to the Bank of the United States. in that currency. This great establishment,
The steps, taken by them which led to the having an income of about four millions of
recent catastrophe, were neither the neces- dollars a year, now carried on, without the
sary nor the natural result of the measures slightest difficulty, in the midst of thesus-
1
1
;
1
peaded banks, receiving and disbursing gold
and silver only.
The difficulty would have been as readily surmounted by the Treasury Department,
had not its necessary disbursements exceeded its current income. The sales of public
lands, and the importations of dutiable mer-
it is exacted from the
people, the Adnunmtration proposes no longer to entrust it to the
custody of corporations, but to keep it in an
independent Treasury,
The
.
following are
some of the reasons upon which this propose
tion is sustained:
1. It is obviously the
plan originally intendIt is a provision of
chandise, were almost stopped by the com- ed by the Constitution.
mercial revulsion, and it was found necessa- that instrument, that " no money shall be
ry to grant indulgence on duty bonds alrea- drawn from the Treasury except in pursudy given. Thus the resources of the Trea- ance of appropriations made by law." What
sury were dried up, while the army and na- does this mean, but that the public money
vy, the civil list and diplomatic corps, ne- shall, when collected, be put into a Treasucessarily gave rise to heavy demands upon ry, and there remain until drawn out to pay
it almost daily.
It had no alternative, but appropriations made by Congress?
Is it not
was obliged to render available, a* far as wholly inconsistent with the idea that it
the funds in bank, and anticipate can be taken out, and lent to the merchants
possible,
its future receipts.
The Secretary of the or others? Suppose that John Campbell,
Treasury, therefore, continued to draw upon the Treasurer of the United States, had five
the banks; and to enable the holders of his millions of dollars in the
Treasury in a
warrants or drafts to use them in payments, vault, room, or chest under his own care
if they preferred it to taking banknotes,
could he lend $10,000 to Daniel Webster,
and to give them the highest practicable $10,000 to Henry Clay, and $1,000,000 to
value, made them receivable for duties and Nicholas Biddle, for their private purposes,
This very operation, though pocketing the interest himself ; without.
public lands.
just to the public creditors, cut off the specie drawing it from the Treasury, in palpable
Is not this an
receipts, by anticipating the revenue, and violation of the Constitution!
gave no effectual relief to the department, application of the public money to private,
At their extra-session, Congress granted the illegal, and unauthorized uses, the very thing
power to issue Treasury notes, as a means which the restriction in the Constitution
of keeping up the credit of the Treasury was intended to prevent? To lend out the
with a deficient revenue. It was believed public money is the only purpose for which
it.
by many of our most sagacious men, that the banks
They do not desire it to
this paper would pass at specie par with a fceep, but to use.
Their peculiar friends
very moderate interest, or none at all; but as will not even hear of a special deposits
present value cannot be had for them, ex- which would restrict or prevent their using
cept by paying them in for public dues, and it The liberty of using it as Ihey please
as the disbursements of the department are is what they demand; in other words, they
still greater than its receipts, it has been in claim the
privilege of lending it out to their
the power of a powerful party press, and customers for their own profit
And is it
other hostile interests, to cry them down not then out of the Treasury? Has it not
below par at certain points. Efficient mea- been drawn out, without appropriation, in
sures have, however, been adopted to raise palpable violation of the spirit of the Constithem to specie par, and at that rate it is con- tution?
It is not a satisfactory answer to say this
fidently believed they will soon benegotiat-ed. In the meantime, the Treasury DepartIf it be a palpractice ie of long standing.
ment has paid specie as far as it had the pow- pable violation of the Constitution, its instant
tbe
-er, and, since
stoppage of specie pay- reformation is an imperative demand of
orients by the banks, has actually disbursed principle and duty.
The disasters which
over six millions of dollars
gold and silver, have followed an abandonment of the ConIt is expected that all its future disburse- stitution on this point, require a return to it
ments will be in tx>in, or its equivalent/ as a matter of expediency as well as of prinReceipts are beginning to flow in, and in a ciple.
short time they will probably exceed the
2. An Independent Treasury is necessary
current expenditure, when all embarrass- to maintain the independence and efficiency
ments will be at an end.
have much in
of the Government.
THE INDEPENDENT TREASURY.
English history as well as in the productions
To avoid the embarrassments encountered of our own statesmen, about the "union of the
from the stoppage of the banks for ever purse and the sword" in the same handt-\ In
hereafter, and secure the faithful application Great Britain, the power to declare war and
of the public money to the purpose for which raise an
army and marine, is vested in the
1
wat
m
We
King, and that
power
to raise
is
called "the sword."
The
to pay the army and
money
vested in the Parliament, and
marine,
that is called "the purse."
The King holds
"the sword" and the Parliament holds "the
purse." This arrangement checks the King,
and protects the liber ties of the people from
is
Executive aggression.
Inour Government, Congress only can
declare war and authorize the raising of an
army and marine, and, therefore, Congress
holds "the sword."
Congress only can
raise money to pay the army and marine,
aad, therefore, Congress holds "the purse"
also.
In these provisions is a double check
upon Executive aggression. He has neither "the purse" nor "the sword" until Congress put them into his hands by law; and
although, after they have given him "the
sword" by declaring war, they cannot withdzaw or close up "the purse" by refusing to
gone to speculators and others, with the capital of the banks, (he stoppage of the banto
was necessarily the stoppage of the TreaguThe Executive could not execute the
ry.
acts of Congress; he could not
pay a soldier or sailor, a clerk or contractor, in the
legal currency of the United States, though
nominally there were twenty-seven millions of dollars in the Treasury,
already apAnd the efpropriated for that purpose.
made to fulfil the obligations and keep
the faith of the Government, under circumstances brought upon it by these saftpurseholders, have been the constant theme of
abuse, taunt, and ridicule, by their organs
and advocates ever sihce!
Now, are not the liberties of this people
safe under the guardianship of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial departments
of their Government!
Must we have a
third power to step in between the Legislaraise money.
tive and Executive departments, nullify the
But modern avarice and ingenuity have laws passed by the former by obstructing
introduced a new purse holder
it is the the constitutional
action of the latter?
Is
banks.
Congress or Parliament can no not the guardianship of Congress over the
"
the purse"
it is
When Congress
longer be trusted with
public purse sufficient?
safe only in the hands of banks!
Such is raised money, and appropriated it, is it not
the modern theory.
Let us see what may safe to let the Executive have it to apply
be the practical operation of this theory, to the designated objects? Must a third
Congress declares war and raises twenty power, independent of both, be broughtin
millions of money to carry it on, which, in- to check the Executive, and refuse him
stead of being deposited in the Treasury, the means to execute the laws of Congress,
under charge of the appropriate officers, is and discharge the obligations of the Governforts
1
put into sundry banks, which now become ment?
It must not be overlooked that this foreign
the purse-holders of the Government. These
banks are opposed to the war, and think power is as much achtck upon Congress as
"the condition and circumstances of the upon the Executive. It is in vain that Conits prosecution,
applies to them for the money provided by Congress to pay the army
and navy, and they withhold it for the purpose of putting an end to the war. Is this
the check which the Constitution intended
to impose on the Executive? On the contrary, is it not a third power introduced into
the Government, unknown to the Constitution, and subversive as well of the just
powers of Congress as of the President?
country," willjiot justify
The Executive
Look at what actually has happened,
Last May the deposite banks had on hand
about twenty-seven millions of the public
money, every dollar of which was appropriated by Congress, or directed to be deposited with the States. These laws the
Executive was proceeding to execute, when
the banks suddenly stopped payment.
If
the money had been in the Treasury, as the
Constitution requires, the Executive could
have drawn it out in pursuance of law, and
press raises money and appropriate it, if
there be a third power which can interpose
and prevent its expenditure. It is in vain
that Congress declares war, and raises money to carry it on, if they put it into the
custody of an independent and irresponsible power, which has the will as well as
the ability to withhold it from the Rxeculive and thus prevent its application to the
support of an army and navy. ThisprinciConpie puts not only the Executive, but
of the
gress also, directly under the control
banks, and without their consent, a ship
cannot sail, and an army cannot march,
This check upon popular government
is
of modern invention. It is not one of those
for
safeguards of liberty which was fought
There was not a bank
in the Revolution.
within the limits of the thirteen
i n 1776
States.
They are not found to constitute
a part of the State Government in their earformed no part of the
ly constitutions: they
General Government under the Articles of
carried into execution the will of Congress.
But as the money of the Government was Confederation; and they
were directly
re-
g
which formed centre of the solar
Wheiv
system.
pudiated by the Convention
our present Constitution. If the Continen- the banks at that point stop, they all stop,
nor can they resume with any convenience
tal Congress resorted to a bank, it was not
for the purpose of keeping their money, (for in their business, unless the banks of the
When
none they had,) but as a means of getting two great cities set the example.
money to carry on the war. The first Bank the New York banks stepped payment in
of the* Unite States was not created for a May last, the shock ran with electric sj eed
depository of the public moneys, (for there through the whole credit system, and the
is no such provision in its charter,) but rs hanks of all the States were prostrated at a
a means of restoring and sustaining the pub- blow. And now we are told, that ihe banks
In the charter of the second of Ohio, Kentucky and the most distant
lie credit.
Bank, of the United States, granted in 1816, States, cannot resume without a movement
Thus the eight hundred
is found the first germ of this power, which from the centre.
it is now insisted must interpose between
banks are one in their essential operations;
the legislative and Executive Departments they are a consolidated* concentrated power,
of the Government, in order to prevent an though seemingly under various jnrisdic"union of the purse and the sword." Of- tions, yet effectually controlled by the few
ten and loudly has it been asserted by new- men who govern and direct fhe banks in
Nor does it
lights of the age, that the United States New York and Philadelphia.
Bank had an absolute right to the public materially alter the case in this respec*,
moneys, and that it was usurpation in the whether this controlling power be organizExecutive to deposite them elsewhere; and e d and regulated under the name of a Bank
it has since been attempted to vest such a O f the United States chartered hy Congress,
Constituting no or left in the hands of banks, great or small,
right in the State banks.
elected to any chartered
by the Slates. Its organization
part of the Government, not
office of the people, or appointed by the under the name of a Bank of the United
President or any public authority, indepen- States undoubtedly increases its influence
dent of the people, and substantially irre- by concentrating its power in one head; but
sponsible to the Government, it is main- the seat of the mischief is in the laws of
tained that they ought to be entrusted with trade and the nature of out credit system,
one of the most delicate ard resposible Though most fearfully illustrated in a Bank
functions of the executive power.
of the United States, its consolidated tenThe Constitutions of the States, of the dencies are equally palpable in the operaUnited States,establishGovernn ents which tions or' the State banks.
Passing scenes
when carried out by law, are complete in prove the dependence of the extremes upon
The checks which the the centre too clearly an<l conclusively toreall their parts.
the
safety of liberty requires, a-e found in
q H re argument as proof to satisfy the mind
adjustment of the several Departments in of the reader.
relation to each other, and various written
J s jt not apparent that a? far as the GenThe interposition of banks e ral Government and State Governments
prohibitionp.
as purse-holders is no part of the constitu- identify themselves with the banks, they
tional plan; it is a modern innovation; it is hecome consolidated into one ff'Ca/ whole !
the intrusion of a new and irresponsible yhe General Government and State Govthe Gov- ernments had hecome
power, subversiveof the purity of
dependent on banks
ernment, fatal to its independence, a^nd for their actual currency and the keeping
dangerous to its existence. If it be s fter- of their treasures. By a single blow their
ed to progress and confirm itself in its us- currency is depreciated and the r treasures
of are rendered unavailable.
By whom and
urpat on, questions of peace and war,
commerce, trade, and taxation, will be de- where was this blow struck] Not by any
cided, not hy the representatives of the peo- legitimate authority in the General GoveniThe blow
ple and of the States in Congress, but hy rnent cr in the several States.
the presidents and directors of banks in se- came through the banks of New York, and
cret conclave assembled.
was felt in the most distant Sta'es in the
3. Another argument in favor of an In- Union.
All the States and the Union itdependent Treasury is found in the centra- se ]f wet e found to be dependent on that
lizing influence and consolidating tendency centre, there was concentrated the power
of the bank power. New York and Phila- t o control all our Governments and people
1
i
1
:
delphia are so close together that they may j,, this respect; in relation to the currency
he called the centre of our commercial and an(j credit system, the States were found
monetary system. The interior banks, ihe t o be consolidated already, and thft ruling
orb'' of our credit system, are as dependent power sits enthroned in New York and
on that centre as the planets are on the Philadelphia!
10
Let the Southern, Western, and even
Middle, and Northern States look to it.
Every new bank they create upon the principles now approved, is a neic ligament
to bind them to the central
power. Every
created in New York, and every
of bank -capital, adds to the fatal
attraction which binds the distant States to
the centre.
Every act of the General or
State
Governments which
goes to
new bank
increase
foreign land; and our consolidated States
through their banks, and in their currency, but the provinces of the money
are,
king,
who
who sits enthroned
in
London. Those
are but his s traps and tri*
batarres, acting in submission to his power
and in obedience to his will,
And is it safe to trust our public moneys
to the
keeping of the dependents of the
Bank of England 1 Is it safe to place our
country in a position where a foreign power can shut up our Treasury, almost Bt will,
control
irs
strengthen banks, adds to the intensity and
<danger of this centralizing influence, and
diminishes the power of the Slates and the and cripple our Government in all its ope?
If so, let us rescind the Declarapeople over their own affairs.
Already, a rations
great corporation has sprung up in Phila- tion of Independence, and acknowledge
delphia, which at this moment not only ourselves, as we really shall be, again procontrols the enti-e currency of the State, by vinces of the British Empire,
4. The Independent Treasury, instead
preventing^ resumption of specie papments,
but is entering deeply into their trade. It of
fostering over-trading, and wild specuis another East India
company, and the lation, like the deposite of the public moSouth and West are the rich provinces neys in banks, would be a most salutary
which it aspires to conquer and to plunder, check upon those operations. The revenue
competitor may be expected in New of the United States accrues from sales f
York, not to restrain the inroads and usur- public lands and duties on imports. A.Q
pations of the Philadelphia marauder, but soon as speculation in public lands and exto rival him in subjecting the
golden South cessive importations commence, the reveand the teeming West to the cent; al bank- nue begins to increase beyond the mineing power.
Consequences the most fear- diate wants of the Government. Depositful to the independent;^ of Lho States, .and ed in banks, and there made the basis of
results the most fatal to all popular control new loans, it tends to swell the rising
over the General Government, may be just- tide of over-trading and speculation.
But
ly apprehended from the growth, extension collected in gold and silver, and put into
and organization of this pervading and sub- the Treasury, the accumulation
itself
tie power.
would soon check the cause of it. If, inNor does the mischief end in throwing stead of being deposited in banks, the late
the entire control of the currency into the surplus, as it rose from ten to twenty milhands of a few men 'n Philadelphia and lions of dollars, from twenty to thirty, and
New York, Those men are at last but the from thirty to forty, had been locked up in
instruments and agents, perhaps unwilling- the Treasury in gold and silver, who can
ly, of the London bankers and the Bank of doubt that it would have prevented the imof England.
London is the centre of the mense extension of credit which led to the
credit system of the whole commercial general
suspension of specie payments?
world, and the Bank of England is the The shutting up of the specie would have
*un of that system. The banks of New had the same effect as its exportation. It
York and Philadelphia bear a relation to could not have risen to twenty millions bethe Bank of England, very similar to that fore the check would have been fell throughwhich the banks of Ohio and other distant out all the ramifications of the credit sysStates bear to them.
Our interior banks tern, and the banks would not so indisare their dependent orbs, as the planets of erectly have extended their issues. The
our solar system have their moons, and means of over-trading and speculation
they themselves are but secondary bodies, could not have been obtained ; the receipts
revolving around the distant sun of the ere- of the treasury would not have accumulatdit system.
The immediate cause of their ed ; and the suspension would have been
recent stoppage was a measure of the Bank averted.
ounce of prevention is
of England, cutting off American credit, worth a pound of cure." The Independ;and thus withdrawing from them the light ent
Treasury would be a pregnant means
and support in which they lived and mov- of preventing speculation in public propered.
It was the Bank of England, there- ty and dutiable
merchandise an evil
fore, which stopped our banks, depreciated which, under the bank deposite system,
our currency, and shut up our Treasury.
its cure is general embarrassment, extenour central banking power is at last but the sive bankruptcy, an !, lately, an universal
dependent of another power, seated in a supension of specie payments. Surely it
.
A
i
"An
11
would be better for the country, the Go- and long has been,
complete illustration
vernment, and the banks, that these opera- cf the Independent Treasury system. For
tions should be checked in their early sta- many years past, nine-tenths of the postges, than that they should thus involve the masters have been the keepers of the moinnocent as well as the guilty in indiscri- neys which they collected until they
minate ruin. But, if these advantages rs were paid over to the creditors of the De-considered insufficient to make it politic to partment.
Upon the suspension of specie
retain a growing surplus in the Treasury, payments last spring, they were all putupn that footing. No principle of administra
foow easy it is to put the accumulating
funds into State stocks, a*Kl thus throw the tion was changed, but the ONE-TENTH which
had been deposited in banks, was placspecie into circulation.
5. The Independent Treasury would ed on the same footing that the NINE-TENTHS
tend to preserve a currency of specie or its were before. Now, every postmaster keeps
If no one would receive pa- the money he collects until it is paid out
equivalent.
per, we should have a specie currency. In to contractors or others, unless safety or
the precise extent to which paper is refu- convenience requires that it shall be transsed^
specie will
always
General Government
circulate.
The
the greatest crediif it receives nothing
is
tor in the ,country,
but the constitutional currency in its transactions, it will keep many millions of ^old
ferred to some other postmaster. For years,
there have been TEN to ELEVEN thousand of
these officers, and now there are twelve
thousand, each performing ihe duties which
would be required of an Independent Treasury, though generally on a small scale.
Do the public hear of any inconvenience
and silver in circulation which would otherwise be substituted by bank notes, ai*d
shut up in the vaults of banks, or export- arising from this plan? Is not every thing
ed from tlit country. In this way, it would going on with harmony, conveniene and
The tiansfer of funds costs not a
greatly increase the specie basis, restrict safety]
the issues of banks, and give greater se- cent. On the contrary, the Department
curity tojthe people. The Post Office Depart- could make money out of the operation if
ment now collects and disburses about a it chose to do so.
million of dollars a quarter, all in specie,
Here, then, is a practical illustration of
without the least difficulty or embarrass- the system in full and successful open tion
ment.
before the eyes of the people, contradicting
6. The Independent Treasury will
place every day, in the most emphatic manner,
the keepers of the public money under the the
and party
objections which self-interest
direct ^authority and control of Congress,
so eagerly iavent and so peroeve;feeling,
the constitutional guardian of the public
nat'oua! bank is too strong
moneys.
to be controlled, having heretofore with im-
ingly propagate.
A
Another principle is illustrated by the
With
daily operations of that Department.
punity shut its do >rs upon a committee of slight exceptions it receiver? and disburses
Twelve thousand
Congress. Over the Slate banks that bo- gold and silver only.
dy has no legal authority or control what- postmasters in twelve thousand neighborsoever.
When placed in those institutions, hoods receive and pay out about a million
the public moneys are beyond their consti- of dollars a
coin of the
quarter, in legal
tutional supervision.
Neither the Legisla- United States, though surrounded with a
tive nor Executive po^er can control
does this provet
paper circulation. What
them. They are out of the possession of It
will come when
proves that specie
the Government, without
being in the there is a demand ibr it. It proves that it
hands of the people. It is otherwise with
a currency in proappears and is used as
the officers of an Independent
Treasury. portion to the demand. It proves that when
Congress must first create them; must pre- ever any other Department of the General
scribe their lespective duties, and fix their or State Governments, any corporation,
salaries ; must direct the amount of the
company or individual, refuses to take pabonds to be taken; -nay, at any time, inwill make its apper in payment, specie
It proves that people can have
quire into their conduct; may impose fur- pearance.
ther restrictions; may turn them out
by im- a specie currency at any time when they
peachment, or abolish their offices. Through have the firmness to refuse it.
them, Congress may exercise as direct suIf the people in every town, village and
pervision over the custody of the public neighborhood in the country, can find spemoney as it is possible for them to possess; cie to pay tl^ir postages, is it to be believwhile their power of control over bank de- ed that it cannot be found
by merchants in
positories is nominal and impotent.
7. The Pest Office
Department is
the great cities to pay their duty b mils'?
The purchase cf public
is idle.
now, the idea
12
lands in specie is going on every day; and in the faculty of acquisition, would be a vioso far as it maybe needed for other pur- lation of natural law, of individual rights, imposes, it can always be obtained, if requir- practicable and absurd. In a country where
mind is free, all sorts of wild theories will
ed by the people.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.
spring up, like weeds in :i rich soil; but rootLet us now turn our attention to the ob- ed out by reason and common sense, they onTrea : ly tend to fertilise the land of liberty. It is
jectioHs urged against the Independent
sury and the Administration which proposes as. ridiculous as it is unjust, to pick up these
it.
declared to be a measure calculated to promote levelling principles which are
traced to the declaration of Robert Dale
Owen, in 1829, advocating "a civil revolution, which would leave behind it no trace
of any Government that had not provided
1.
It is
teeming extravagances and attribute them
to the Administration, or any political party
in the country. Sure it is, that the idea of an
equality of property, or of a general distributionof roperty, is utterly repudiated by every man connected with the Administration,
and the charge might, with more plausibilifor every human being an equal amount of ty, be retorted upon those who so strenuousproperty on arriving at the age of maturity, ly maintain that Ihe banks should have
and during minority equal food, clothing, the use of money which does not belong to
and education, at the public expense." How them.
the keeping of the money of the Government
2 It is charged that the Independent
exclusively for its own use, instead of letting Treasury is a measure of hostility to the
those use it to whom it does not belong,
general credit system of the country, and
tends to impair the right of property, it is j 9 ca ] cu l a ted, if not
designed, to reduce the
However that may operations of trade to the mere exchanao
not easy to conceive.
be, I venture to say there is not a man, con- O f one thing for arother, without the internected with the Administration who enterposition of credit paper in any shape,
tains opinions in any degree analogous to
This charge lias as little foundation in
the wild and impracticablejschomc develop- fact as the preceding. It is almost as abIt would be equally just sur d to talk of
ed by Mr. Owen.
banishing credit from a civito attribute to them, as their settled opin- n ze d
community as of producing -an equalCredit is found useful in
ions, the incoherent givings outofanymad- jty of properly.
man in bedlam. On the contrary, there is the most simple, as well as in the most
believed not to be a man connected with complicated forms of
society, nnd to dethe Administration who does not maintain, s troy it, would be to cut ono of the
ligaman
as a fundamental principle, that every
m ents which bind men together in civil
has a right to possess, enjoy and dispose of, communities. Doubtless, like all other
whatever he has acquired by the efforts of honest men, the members of the Adminishis own mind, strength and industry, with- tiation are opposed to that abuse of credit
out infringing upon the righls of others; and which robs the good man for the benefit of
that one of the first objects of nil just institu- the knave, ruins multitudes by its excesses,
j
.
,
tion is to protect that right. EQUAL RIGHTS and produces demoralization, distrust, and
is a sound doctrine; but it is wholly incompa- anarchy in the business of
To
society.
tible with equality of property.
"Equality draw the proper line, and say to credit
of rights" secures to every man alike the
privilege of enjoying the property he honestly acquires; but it does not require him to
divide his acquisition with his neighbors
who are less able to work, less fortunate,
less industrious, or less economical. Whatever he givesout of the proceeds of his labor,
is not required of him as a matter of right,
but is exacted by holy charity, or other persuasive considerations, operating upon his
and his will. The Supreme Being
made men equal in physical strength,
liberality
has not
in
mental power, in excitability of passions,
judgement, or in any other
in solidity of
thjngs between which it is possible to draw
a parallel. Human institutions which should
attempt to produce an equality of property,
when Heaven itself has made men unequal
far shalt thou come and no farther,"
perhaps impracticable ; and the only difforence on the subject which exists in the
country is believed to be, not whether credit shall exist, but to what limit it is expe-
"thus
is
dient to permit its extension. On that point
scarcely any two intc>ll?gpnt m?n will 'be
found to agree ; and as the Administration
have no control over it, they do not entertain the question.
While there is not one
of its members who is hostile to the credit
system, there may be the same diversity of
opinion among them, as to some of its features, which exist among their fellow-citizens.
3 The Independent Treasury is charged
with being part of a scheme to overthrow
the State banks or "State Institutions."
i3
a plausib'e foundation
The single ground on
charge.
irhich it is got up is the known desire of
ie Administration to be relieved from their
id in the management of the public revenin the
e, because they have signally Jailed
er 'ormance of their public duties and olliMultitudes of inations in thaL reaped.
ividuals, as well as the Government, had
in the banks at
eposites of s. erie funds
is time of their stoppage.
Suppose one
f these private citizens, who was bound
Ml his debts
y the law and an oath to pay
himself thus uni
specie, and had found
to obey
xpectedly deprived of the power
"here is not even
this
or
t
have done heretofore! And has the Governmental ways aimed to overthrow those banks
to which it has entrusted none of the public
money] The idea is absurd, and the imputation groundless,
It is not intended to say, however, that all
or any of those connected with the Administration, are theoretically in favor of the
State banks as now organized, or approve
course they have pursued within the
There is probably
or three years.
on those points the same diversity of opinion among them which exists in the commuIt may, however, be safely asserted
nity.
thit, to a man, they think the banking sysic one, or comply with the other, should tern needs extensive reforms, and additional
etermine hereaiter to keep his money in checks and responsibilities to protect the
is own chest, ought he to be.charged with country from an eternal round of expansions
Must eve- and contractions, apparent prosperity and
design to destroy the banks?
in banks, or be set real distress, sometimes leading to the temy man keep his money
Must he buy their porary subversion of the currency establishj\vn as their enemy!
ed by the Constitution. It is not banks to
fendship, or encounter their hostility.
The Administration has proposed no which they are hostile, but bank abuses.
On the
leasures for the injury of banks.
3. It is objcted that the Independent
ontrary, it has applied for and obtained Treasury would expose the public money to
om Congress an act of indulgence, giving oe misused and applied to private purposes,
lem time to pay over the public moneys It would seem impossible to devise a system
Its aim, from the time of their under which the public money could be
n hand.
apuspension, has been to separate from them, plied to more mischievous purposes than it
to leave them to the has been under the bank deposite system,
IK! let them alone
to Where were the
tates by which they were created
many millions of public
>ave them in tin- free and full exercise of money when the banks stopped payment in
11 their
power? and privileges neither to May last? They were lent out to the presinot to interfere with dents and directors of the banks,their friends,
elp nor hinder them
leir business, imr ask their interference and their customers.
Instead of being emto h-t them be \\hat
ith the Government
ployed for public purposes, or even in pro>ey are, "State Jwsfiluliona" for Sttttc pur- moting the agriculture, manufactures, and
oses, and not practically constituent parts commerce of the country, they were instruIs there evi- mental in
fthe General Gove nment.
putting on foot speculation in city
Must the Ad- ] ts, new towns, public lands, stocks, proence of hostility in tl is?
linistration remiw its fdtal connection with duce, and merchandize
speculations injuriIt is ous to
lem, to prcvj it is not their enemy!
public morality and fatal to the bestinit founJ them,
as
them
to
leave
wholesale misapmore
tercsts of society.
just
illingbre they were employed as depositories
and misuse of the public money it
plication
to use their own is
the public money
impossible to conceive. The Independent
)ital in their own way, without molestaTreasury would put an end to this enormous
n on its part.
abuse. "The keepers of the public moneys,
3ut if not giving public deposites to the under such a system, would not only be under
ite banks is a measure of hostility calculheavy bonds, but would even be subject to
d to destroy them, how is it that those fj nc and imprisonment for using or lending
iks contrived to exist so- long without them for
any purpose whatsoever, except to
st> deposites? What sustained them while
p av the appropriations of Congress. If the
13ank of the United State had the public same latitude were allowed to them as hereof the toforehis been to the banks; if they were
neys? What has sustained those
ite banks which have had none of tliote
permitted to use the money in their private
Under the late business, or to lend it out and pocket the in:ieys down to this day]
tern, only about eighty banks out o.' eight terest; if they were permitted to extend their
ulrecl had a dollar of those
deposiles. O wn credit, and enter into all sorts of specuw did the others get along? Cannot any lation upon the credit of the public, then, intion or all of the banks sustain themselves deed, nothing but the most disastrous plun^eaflcr without deposites ns well as they
of the Treasury could be expected.
the
last
two
A
tiering
it is to put nn end to these very mischiefs that the Independent Theasury is pro-
But
posed
By whom
is
our revenue collected!
By
the Collectors of the Customs, hy Receivers
of Public Moneys at the land offices, and by
Into their hands the entire
Postmasters.
revenue of the Government now comes in
And are not they all
the first instance.
Executive officers! Is not the money while
in their possession in the hands of the Ex*
pendant Treasury plan would, in a dangei
ous and alarming degree, extend the pa
tronage and iufluence of the Executive.
Under the late system, there were abou
eighty deposite banks, with 80 president
and 80 cashiers, about 600 directors, an
about 10,00< stockholders, besider othe
Here were about fcL&Vfc
officers.
THOUSAND MEN
whose pecuniary
ir
were directly affected by the actio
of the Executive. A deposite of twent
tereSts
Do they plunder and misapply it, millions, on loan at six per cent, put int
th*ir pockets upwards of a motion of ao
bonds
their
notwithstanding, in a dangerous
a
r/
This the Executive couT
or destructive degree?
^?
or'take away by increasing or dimir
4ffain: by whom are our public moneys^v'e
in the severs
disbursed? By Paymasters, Pursers, Navy ishing the amount deposited
banks. The eagerness with which the pul
Agents, Postmasters* and other agents; all
Do they Ite deposite* were sought after by the bank
of whom are Executive officers.
sufficient evidence of the important
misuse and misapply it, except in occasionI hat
they woul
they attaeh^d to them.
al instances of small importance?
incline lo the support of those who
the
under
dollar
of
our
revenue
Evo.ry
tfirrej
business and money in their path, it
present and all former systems, is twice
to prove.
found in the hands of Executive officers, qui.es no evidence
over an army c
and subject to their contrd. Even when direct pecuniary influence
rich and powerful men, the effect of whiel
the
it
in
in
is,
banks,
contempladeposited
* adroitly managed by an admimstra
tion of law, in the custody of the Treasurto make the most of it, it is impog
It is on*
er, who is an Executive officer.
deposed
to eatculate.
of the Executive- functions in every Gov- 8l [f
Nor is it possible to calculate the secoi
ernment, to collect, keep, and disburse, the j
over the customers and d
Dublic moneys, according to the pfenspie- dar y ^'^ence
to '3 of the banks which might be exerte
scribed by the legislative"power. In prinei^rough friendly presidents, directors,
pic, banks might as well be employed to
officer*
bpeakmg well of the fcxecntr
collect the taxes and disburse them, as to
w !*' ch
them, and nca
of
the
the
keep
money during any portion
dealt believe that t
If it cannot be safe in wilfc w-hom they
intermediate time.
re nd ebted for accommodl
other hands than those of banks, why let it P 1|C J ll >' we
llon and indulgence, they might great
go into other hands at all? Why not emthe sphere ot his popularity,?
ploy the banks in every operation involving enlarge
secure to his inierests] the whole dupes
the public money?
How would afcmi-figur* a* paymaster bank debtors, as well as their president
other officer, stockholders, an
e fan.army,orpurserofa ship, to prevent directors,
the public moneys being kept by Execu- customers.
Wow is it with the propoaed Independe,
tiwQfficers' Would it be precisely safe, _,
Most of the agents whic
in the midst of a campaign or
voyage, to Treasury!
" be employed are a ready public
of
those^oVer
the
cash
into
th/hanrffl
put
whom the commanders had no control! ficers, and as much under the control oft!
What if they should lend oat the money ^ecuteve as they can he,
and perhaj
and then sud- Reivers of Puhl.c Moneys,
to merchants and speculators,
1
clerks would be the entire a<
a
off
all
thuseut
and
supdenly
J- stop payment ,
do^n
..
to the Executive
ecutive?
^/Jj"
f*
f
.
'
,
i
added
Uepi
This is the whole accession to R
ttonal force
P
Our
sail,
ship of State
wilb banks
for
was recently under full
its purser.
Ui^pect-
edly, and without notice, they stopped'poymen, and the commander has had gre'at
ever
difficulty to feed and pay his we
for -/purser who will
He
ince.
w
noways
en
!
tlve patronage, so much dreaded a,
If their influence w,-re
deprecated.
he pnsidei
great ine hv.dua ly as i.hat of
nd directors of the eighty batiU, it
deer,.
safely he loft to the people to
"^ther, in the T,ggrPgte, t. would not
<
use
keep the money in good faith for the sole
immeasurably
of the ship'* crew, instead of lending it out
Is thi. wronger un.1
{
pirates.
trader
re 8
^
^^
bo between a
4 .It is'further objected that the inde^
l,ss.
man
tween the I.dep
sitting
upon a
mo
15
ohest, sternly defending its precious contents against an eagar multitude, and one
distributsitting by such a chesfropen, and
ing its contents with stalling face and rea-
dy hand
who asked
to all
dation."
It is
the
"accommo-
proposed to impose heavy
penalties on any Exeeu-tive officer whomay
lend or use the public njoney, whereas (he
banks want it for no other purpose. The
difference of the influence exerted in stern-
expending it not for the purpose of
withholding it from the community , but for
the purpose of returning it in disbursenot for the purpose of impairing
meiits
the credit of banks, but of sustaining its
own. Is it any cause of just complaint
that the Government,, or a bank, or an indir
vidual, should keep mon^y enough on hand
to meet claims daily presented, and carry
on business without embairassment? But
if any fears are really, entertained of a naiscbievous accumulation of specie in the
Treasury, they can be readily obviated,
by providing for its investment ia State
of
keeping money and kindly lending it, is
Does any
not difficult of comprehension.
man believe ihe Kxeeutive will obtain
more influence and power by the appo ntmentoffour Receivers and a few clerks, stocks.
How is the Independent Treasury an atthan he could by employing the eighly
banks and conciliating eight hundred! If tack on the credit of banks? Does it prothe President were seeking to extend his pose to take from them any of their priviNo: it proinfluence by operating on the private inter- leges, or any of their capital?
ests of men, he has resorted to the wrong poses to leave them just as they are, and,
means. The absurdity of the charge is just as the States encore to ruako them. It
evinced by the fact, that this veiy bank in- proposes to permit them to issue heir-no es,
fluence which he refuses to purchase, is to pass them upon every body who is willboldly held up by those who make it as the ing to lake them; to use their credit and
ly
-t
power which is to destroy him all the patronage of an Independent Treasury notwithstanding
5. It is further objected, that the Inde-
capital without let, hindrance, or control
from the General Government. It will not
be maintained that the banks have any right
to the deposites of the Government or indi-
pendent Treasury system would withdraw
ihe specie of the country from circulation,
place it under the control af the Executive,
take away the basis on which the bsnks
sustain their circulation, and fatally affect
viduals, or have a right to require the Government or individuals to take their notes.
Every individual in the community has a
right not to keep hi& money in bank; and
he has a right not to leceive bank notes,
For the exercise of tht se ^undoubted rights
he ought not to be censured, or charged
\vith attacking the credit of the banks. So
it is wiiK the Government.
To maintain
its own credit under all vicissitudes, it
proposes to keep its own money, and deal in
its currency.
This is a measure ef precaution and safety for itself, and not an act ot
If they manage
hostility to the banks.
their affairs prudently,, they will have credit; if not, thuy will lose it. If they cannot
!
the credit system, of the country.
If Congress raise no more by taxas than
is necessary f >r the curreat wants of the
Government, the amount of specie on hand
at any one time could not exceed four or
five millions of dollars.
Although the annual revenue may be twenty or thirty millions, it will, if not greater th^n the necesary disbursements, be paid out as fast as
it is
pai-J in; and the amount on hand need
be only enough to enable the Government
to carry on its business with c nvenrenee
and safely.
The United
frequently had
on-
maintain their
Bank has have none; and
hand for considerable pe- a wrong to the
vStales
own
credit, they ought to
the Government would do
people, by attempting to
millions of dollars, in give them any.
"The credit system" is a very indefinitespecie, and all the banks, are in the habit of
If it be intended to impute to the
retaining large sums; yet nobody complains. phrase.
are there not loud complaints that the Administration a design to subvert credit
banks needlessly shut up millions of specie in general, by the Independent Treasuryfrom the uses of the community? It is be- plan, the charge has no foundation in fact.
cause every body knows that a considera- 'Die only, object is to withdraw the public
ble sum cf money on hand is necessary to money from the credit system
to proven ;.
enable them t sustain tlieir credit and car- its being used as bank capital
to prevent
on
their operations.
ry
Why, they, should its beir.g loaned out for the profit ofbariksnny one complain, if ilwe Government does to jre rent its beiog exposed Jo the hazard?
the same thing, and for the same
and bank manajjopurposes? ofprifate speculation
It does not propose to keep specie for the ment, and to keep it to
pay the debts ana
purpose of hoarding it but for the purpose expenses of the Government,.. Ihe purposes
riods, ten to fifteen
Why
>
16
for
which the people pay
it
Trea- country with their notes, thrust them into
every man's hands, and caused them to
supersede the people's currency almost entirely, suddenly stop payment with over a
safety, and hundred millions of dollars in circulation.
into the
Its effect would be to put an end to
sury.
a gross abuse of the credit system, in lending out the people's money for private
thus hazarding its
gain,
violating the spirit of the Constitution.
The
people who are the holders of this
currency, and generally have no other, arc
that collectors of the customs, receivers of obliged, inconsequence of this general viopublic moneys, or postmasters, were lend- lation of law by the banks, to use it for a
ing out the public money in their hand to time, contrary to their wishes and will. It
their friends to speculate upon, and pocket- is absurd to say that they prefer a paper
ing the interest themselves? They would dollar, at ten per cent, discount, to a silver
be denounced through the country as guilty dollar; or a ten dollar note, worth nine
of a gross -abuse, for which they ought to dollars, to a golden eagle. Thepoepleare
be signally punished. Yet the principle is not so simple. But individuals not being
the same, whether the public money be able, single-handed, to resist this violation
lent out by one keeper or another; by indi- of their rights, submit unwillingly to the
viduals or corporations; by collectors of the loss and inconvenience, and fall, one after
customs or banks. It is an application of another, into the habit of using tor a cur*
the public funds to private uses.
rency the depreciated bank notes. And the
And would a collector or a postmaster banks having thus, in violation of the Confind any justification in saying, that to keep stitution and laws, and of ihe will of the
the money on hand would be an attack on popple, ./breed their notes upon them to the
"Ihe credit system!" that it would bean exclusion of the legal currency, now turn
improper shutting up and hoarding thespe- round and say, "behold! depreciated bank
rie of the country] that it wouM be an at- notes are the currency of the people, and
He might be luii'jh- the Government should look for nothing
tack upon the banks!
ed at for his fully, or stared at for his im- better!" That is to say, "having imposed
pudence; but would receive little credit for our notes on the people, substantially as a
Yet his rea- tender in
of debts contrary to the
hi* fidelity or his patriotism.
payment
sous would be just as good as those of the Constitution, and in violation of the laws,
same character adduced against the Inde- the Government ought to acquiesce in the
usurpation, and be content to see its fundjapendent Treasury.
What would
h
is
be said,
if it
were discovered
further objected, that to dispense
in the keeping of ihe
money, is to make **&ne currency
with banks altogether
public
for the
people"
Goveinment and another
a
for the
patrician currency and a pie-
Jbcian currency.
This objection comes with a bad grace
from those who assume to be the special
It has originated
friends of the banks.
mental principles overthrown and trampled
ih the dust!"
The people created the Government to
protect them, as far as possible, against
wrong and outrage. They have, by their
Constitution and laws, established gold
and silver as the only legal currency of
th e land.
They have sworn every pub]{c officer to obey the laws, and to protect
and defend the Constitution. The public
officers could not recognise bank notes as
since the stoppage of specie payment. The
the
legal currency of the United States
the currency establish- tne
people's currency
currency of the Government without
ed by the Constitution and protected by being guilty of perjury. In refusing to reis
the laws
gold and silver. Although cc ive them, they were true to their oaths to
the States may establish banks, they can O i, e y the laws, and protect and defend the
ijiake nothing hut gold and silver a tender Constitution.
But if their had been no
All the laws of the suc j, ca th,
in payment of debts.
public duty wonld have requirUnited States and of ihe several State* reThe Government had
d the same course.
CURRENCY,
established by their Om*iitution, confirmed by their /#ics, and protected by their courts of justice. The banks
could not be maintained without colfrom the debtors of the Government
As in conthe money to pay its creditors.
are authorised to i.ssue notes only tsponcon- sequence of the stoppage of the banks, ?iobut gold and sildition tint they shall pay them on demand
thing could be legally paid
in that .currency. But the banks having, V er, so no other currency tould be received,
by .the indulgence of the people., fiHed the Had the officers of Government, therefore,
fa jth
Jectino-
17
been disposed
to receive the bank paper for
public tiues, they could not do so because
they were prevented by the Constitution
and laws of the land, by their oaths of of-
and by their obligations to preserve
public faith inviolate.
But it was essential that resistance
should commence somewhere to the attempt
to subvert our fundamental laws, and impose on the country, for an indefinite and
unknown period, an irredeemable paper currency.
Single individuals were noc strong
enough to raise their arms against the overwhelming power with which the foundations of morality snd law were suddenly assailed.
If became the General Government, whose example and whose influence
fice,
tiie
were likely
to have great weight, to raise
the standard of c.'-rrect principle, commence
the resistance to this demoralizing innovation, ;nd aid in restoring to the people their
legal and constitutional currency. The object was not to establish a better currency
for the Government and a worse for the
people, but to restore to the people the bet-
and the people shall have k
and that it shall be deprecia.
and worthless shin-plasters, in
the Constitution and laws, in
the public faith and in
derogation of au
.
ral principle.
Let them who raise this cry of a better
currency for the Government, and a worse
for the people, come cut and tell us what
Bank notes redeemable in
they mean.
gold and silver, they tell us, are a better
currency than the gold and silver themIf the notes be redeemabl >, and
selves.
the Government do not take them, and the
people do, the people, according to these
gentlemen's theory, will have the better
currency, and the office holders the worst.
They cannot mean, therefore, that to give
the office holders specie, and the
people re-
deemable bank
notes, is to give the forcurrency than is enjoyed by
the latter.
What then do they mean by
this catch-word ]
Do they mean, that the
people are forever to have no other currency than irredeemable banks notes tnd mis-
mer
a
better
Is it to make the
ter currency, of which they had been wrong- erable shin-plasters ?
It was to se- people forget their constitutional and
fully and illegally deprived.
legal
cure to the people and Government both, rights, and be forever content to take for a
whatever
the currency which was established by the currency,
paper may be thrown
Constitution, and promised to be protected out by broken banks and bankrupts of all
by the laws and the courts of justice. It sorts, that these men wish to force the Gowas, instead of subjecting the Government vernment to receive this abominable trash?
to the wrongs the people suflered, to deliv- Having crammed it down the throats of trm
er the people from these wrongs, and re- people, do they wi^h to make them conIt was *o tent with th; ir situation,
store to them their lost rights.
hy cramming it
make the Government and people equal as down the throat ot the Government afso?
have forced the people to submit to a
to the currency; to secure to both the same
of ihe Constitution and laws,
its ba- %iolation
currency the currency which finds
sis in the Constitution, and is essential to sound
policy and moral honesty
why
This was should not the Government submit also ?
fair trade and honest dealing.
the
wanwill
See!
submit forever to
not the equa'ity which the Federalists
people
Instead of raising the people up, they have a depreciated and fraudulent currency
ted.
would pull -the Government down. Instead
why should not the Government submit
This is in substance the
of restoring their rights to the people, they also?
language
would make both Government and people of certain politicians.
Instead
If this cry be not wholly insincere and
the victims of a common wrong.
of placing them on an equality of wrong. hypocritical, those who utter it are striving
This is what they mean when they charge to impose on the people forever, or at least
the Administration wiih seeking to have for an indefinite period, a depreciated paone currency for the Government, and ano- per currency, and to force the Government
for the people.
They mean that the Gov- into their policy. Instead of making the
ernment and people should both be compel- government and people equal, by restoring
The a currency of specie or its equivalent, ther
Jed to take depreciated bank notes.
difference between the Administration and would make them equally the recipients of
irredeemable and fraudulent paper. Whick
its opponents, is this:
The Administration insists that the Go- platform of equality will the people stand
Will they have a currency of spet crnment and people shall have the same upon ?
?
currency, and that it shall be gold and sil- cie or its equivalent or, will they be con^
Ter or their equivalent, as provided by the tent with irredeemable bank notes and
Constitution and laws of the land.
shin-plasters, and compel the Government
that the Government to receive and pay them out also 1
Its
They
opponents insist
We
18
answer these questions at the polls.
OBJECT OF THE OPPOSITION.
But the Independent Treasury and special
deposites are condemned by the entire Federal party; but not more strongly than by
are not content to lend their own capital
two of three times over, but they want the
The speculators are
public mofiey also.
not content to borrow all the capital of ths
banks, all their deposites, and all their crebut they want the money in the
the Republican party. The true object is United States Treasury also! To deny it
disclosed with sufficient clearness in some to them, they call agrarianism, tyranny opof the resolutions adopted at a recent as- pression, usurpation, and consolidation; UK
semblage of some of these individuals in attack on State institutions; hostility te
New York. Of the Independent Treasury banks; experimentingupon the currency; the
and a special deposite, they sny, 4 Both destruction of the credit system; barbarism,
contemplate the same odious principle of loco focoisrn, abominable, intolerable, and
hoarding the precious metals and shutting diabolical!!! Just give them the use of
them out from circulation amor g the com- the public money, and all is sunshine and
munity to whom they rightfully belong,'" freedom, piosperity and happiness. 1 beg
&c. &c. The meaning of this cannot be rvery dispassionate man to consider, whemisunderstood. The government must not ther this is not the only principle for which
keep its own money on hand although it certain conservative Democrats in N. Y.
The Constitution says, and elsewhere appear to be contending
ha-- no use for it!
"No money shall be drawn from the TreaWith the Federal party it is otherwise.
sury but in pursuance of appropriations Amidst their shouts of triumph after the
made by law." These gentlemen say, that late N. Y. elections some of them had the
to keep the public money in the Treasury, honesty and the boldness to denounce our
is " hoarding the precious metals," and out free institutions, and advocate a hereditary
Chief Magistrate and a restricted suffrage.
jt must come, appropriation or no appropriOut it must come, because it * he- To wrest the controlling power from the
ation
**
longs" to the community." One would people by direct means, is impossible; but
suppose rnt its belonging to the communi- it may be possible by circumvention.
ty would be n conclusive reason why it see that the po.vcr which controls the curshould not come out until wanted for pub- rency f-its enthroned in Philadelphia and
New York. Give the banks the public moIt is for no such purpose?,
~lic purposes.
that these men insist that it shall come out, neys, and that power has hold of the sinor is it for the benefit of any other com- news of the Government, and can control
If they be
munity than that, of banks and borrowers. the destinies of the country.
Translated into plain English, this declara- given to a National Bank, then some Nition means that the Government shall lend cholas Bidd;e becomes, like Caesar, empeout the public money for private uses, and ror or sole monarch of the land, with liue
lest it srionld be too shameless an operation pageant of a Republic at Irs heels; if to
the State Banks, then the supreme domito do it directly, they insist that it shall l>
nion is in the leading men of those itistiiuIt would
put into brinks for that purpose.
be a crime for the Secretary of the Trea- tions in Piul.idelphia and New York. The
sury or the Treasurer to lend out the public ohject-j of the ancient Federalists will then
.money; but the banks may loan precisely have been accomplished in devising a plan
the same money without impropriety or to tuke the control of the Government out of
censure! Public officer-, cannot draw it the h/inds of the people, and pi-ice it in the
from theTreasury without an appropriation, hands of a f-.w rich men, bankers and brobut the banks may gire it out to whom they kers. A Fec!er.l monarchy in the .sha;-eof a
N. Bank, a conservative oli^ujchy .in .the
please ! !
On this point the whole controversy shape of S. Bks. and bcth dependent on forturns.
The struggle of the peculiar a<lvo- eign power; r a representative Republic,
<ca'es of the banks is,
PUB- in the shape of an Independent Treasury,
certain individuals
who
claim
to
belong to
dit,
!
We
<
loGETTHK
LIC
MONEY FOR PRIVATE USES!
"This, and nothing else, when stripped of
nil disguises, is what they want. The bunk*
want
lend out, and their friends want
is the substance of the
Ah other considerations, so constantly introduced, and so zeal*
ously urged, are mere make weights, to aid
i*i
The banks
arriving at the main object.
it to
borrow it This
whole controversy.
to
!
controlled by public officers responsible to
the people, are th- alternatives which are
now present, d for adoption. On the choice
now to he made may depend ihe character
of our Government, if not its existence,
the progress ot liberal i>rincipleft,.aud .free-
dom
iiseJf.
GENERAL REMARKS.
There never was an Administration, the
of which devoted themselves cause they decline another trip in the same
more indostriou ly and honestly to the dis- boat with the same boilers There was no
to the banks in the Administration.
rharge of their public duties, and yet none hostility
has r-ver been more vio'ently or incessantly It never asked nor expected their support,
!
jtssailed.
Usurpation violation of law I disregard
0f the Constitution have been rung through
!
!
the land.
By whoTi
By men who
1
are
applauding and supporting banks, for openConstitution
ly and notoriously setting the
iw at defiance, and abusing the meman'i
bers of the Administration for sternly re1
fusing to become their coadjutors
Corruption ! corruption ! has bten a conWhence does it arise! From
tinual cry.
presses and men who have received their
thousands and tens of thousands from the
Bank of the United States and other banks,
o secure their personal service and legis!
nor deprecated their political hostility.
It
looked upon them as public agents, to be
encouraged and sustained as long a^ they
faithfully .performed their public duties, and
to be discountenanced and discharged when
1.
Their failure has been genecomplete and overwhelming. The
friends of the Administration propose to
let them fco their way in peace, and try the
they
faile
e*al,
only remaining alternative short of a Bank
of the United States.
Although ihey may
once have preferred the State banks to an
Independent Treasury, is there any inconsistency JH preferring the latter to a bank of
If they once preferred
the United States ?
lative assistance. If corruption o*ild have sound State banks to an Independent Treareached General Jackson, do y.-u think sury, is there any inconsistency in preferwe should have heard of the veto! If the ring the latter to broken State banks 1 Evfriends who stood by him in the removal of ery honest Democrat who joins in this imtoe deposites could liave been bought by
putation of inconsistency, is unwillingly
bank accommodations and jrratuities, do promoting the cause of the Bank of the
you think that step would ever have been United States. A moment's reflection will
taken 1 If mercenary considerations could show him, that tlv Adtttinistration did not
reach the present Administration, do you abandon the State banks until they had
believe we should ever hear of an Inde- made it impossible longer to employ them,
pendent Treasury 1 The mea.-is of corrup- by suspending spe-cie payments. They are
ii"a., the disposit on to corrupt, and the acynilty of the same inconsistency as when
tual corruption, are all on the other si le.
they employ an individual in the public
Signal instance* ave been exhibited to the business, thinking him well qualified nd
community, and the recipients of the vile honest, and discharging him when proved,
bribes are the Inu est in charging the Ad- by experience, to be totally unfit for the
jninistration wi;h corruption
service.
There are many other allegations against
inconsistency! is another
Inconsistency
Secause the friends of the Ad
the Administration, which are equally desAv.u-cry.
aiinistration -were in favor of depositing the titute of candor and truth; but 1 have not
\V are told that
public funds in State Banks when they were time to expo.-e them.
in good credit, and were believed compe- they have greatly increased the public extent t the public duties they undertook, penditures, when millions upon millions
and are opposed tj it now when they have ha/e been appropriated by Congress and
have vio- required to be expended by law, which the
proved theirutt.er incompetency
"Uted all their legal Contract oiilJgativins
Executive never asked for or wanted. The
.ka*e Hopped payment ia mas* in a time of increase of the ordinary expenditures withprofound peace, and thrown upon the conn- in the last nine years has rot kept pace
and one with the increase of population, and exten-try a depreciated paper curreacy,
t-rCter another are acknowledging their inasion ff our settlements. Nearly the whole
real increase has been in the unsolicited apbility to pay their promises even in the
promises of the .r neighbors after all thia propriations, and certain unusual incidents,
ki&, that the friends of the Ad;ninist;ation such *as Florida war and the removal of the
are charged with inconsistency! The ground Indian tribes.
But if the Administration
on which they st >od has been swept away is to be charged with tl e whole expendiwith
by a flood, and yet they are charged
ture, ought it not to have credit for the
inconsistency because they do not stand whole income !
Ought it not to have creThe house in which they took dit for the immense augmr utation of reveu|.>onit!
shelter, rus been overthrown by an earth- nue which enabled it to pay off the public
i
!
!
!
i
;
quake; yet they are stigmatized because
they did not abandon it The boat in which
they embarked, has. burst her boiVrs ; be!
meet the extraordinary appropriations,
and deposit thirty-seven millions with th
debt,
20
States! The Federalists make no entry brated by feastings, rejoicings, and a milllion of guns!
This is a shadowing forth
on the credit side of the account.
In fine, there never was a time when of what may be expected, when all the
more wanton atroc ous misrepresentation powers of the Government shall be made
was resorted to, for the purpose of destroy- subservient to banks, speculators and siocking the Republican party, and bringing Fe- jobbers, who consider the people as the
deralism into power. The best men are farmer does his horses or his oxen, the
most nbused, and the purest actions are the mere instruments and means by which
most strongly condemned. It jsthe whole they are to get rich.
Republicans! a severe conflict is impending
study of a powerful party in Congress, not
to do the public business, but to break down Ultra Federalism, the ancient enemy of Demo
the Administration, and put up another in cracy, after creeping stealthily along for almosi
and assuming numberless die
league with the money power, and Ihen to forty years,
guises, is again in the field, bold, confident ant
organize that power in the charter of a mendacious.
It is not to be conquered but bj
mammoth National Bank. If they shall
firmness and perseverance. Let eve
succeed, and shall thus bring the control industry,
however high or humble, de
of the money and credit system into an al- ry Republican,
vote himself, in the most appropriate and eifi
liance with the Executive of the United cient
manner, to the cause of truth, justice am
States, then indeed may the States begin to
liberty the cause for which Washington toile<
tho
and
their
for
tremble
independence,
and Montgomery bled. Let each aid in pro
into
people, for their liberties. Consolidated
moting free discussion, in disseminating infor
one great empire, and groaning under the mation within his own circle, in enabling tin
galling chain* of unmitigated despotism, people to understand the principles in contest
under the forms of a republic, the to arrive at just conclusions, and give them cf
practised
at the polls. So shall the present outbreak
people of the States will look in vain for feet
another Andrew Jackson of incorruptible ing of Federalism be repressed, and the blese
and unbend- ings of a pure representative Government se
integrity, fearless intrepidity,
cured to another generation.
ing devotion to liberty, to break the fatal
Believing it now more than ever necessar
When
free.
set
his
and
alliance,
country
to revert to the fathers of the Republican part)
the banks of New York stopped payment,
and revive a recollection of their venerate
troops were called out to awe the people, names and pure
principles, I adopt the signa
be
act
should
leet one lawless
avenged by ture of the most exemplary and clear-headc
another; and after the late Federal triumph Democrat among them.
was achieved in that State, it was celeTHOMAS JEFFERSON.
:
;
RETURN
^
TO
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
202 Main Library
F
HN
@FedFRASER