Biddle managed the Bank with undeniable competence and skill, bringing stability and order to the nation’s chaotic banking system. But his exceptional talents and abilities encouraged a characteristic flaw. He was arrogant. He failed to see that he and his Bank depended more on the government’s favor than the government depended on him and his Bank. His and his allies’ conduct throughout the Bank War amounted to a perfect illustration of John Kenneth Galbraith’s observation, “People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.”
“No officer of the Government, from the President downwards, has the least right, the least authority, the least pretense, for interference in the concerns of the bank,” Biddle declared. This was unbelievably rich. The Bank was by law the only place where the government could park the public’s money, money the Bank could lend freely to anyone, on any terms. Biddle seemed to go out of his way to make the anomalous position of the Bank—a privately owned and run institution wielding enormous public power—as flagrant and obnoxious as possible. Those who managed the Bank, he wrote, “should be at all times prepared to execute the orders of the board in direct opposition, if need be, to the personal interests and wishes of the President and every officer of the Government.”
When asked during public testimony whether the Bank had ever “oppressed” any of the State banks, Biddle answered “Never.” But he immediately added, “There are very few banks which might not have been destroyed by an exertion of the powers of the bank.” He thought this demonstrated his high-minded restraint. His critics interpreted it differently.
Though the Bank’s charter was not due to expire until 1836, Jackson’s hostility was obvious from the moment he came into office in 1829. “I do not dislike your bank any more than all banks,” Jackson had told Biddle, a statement that was neither intended nor received as a reassurance.
Biddle and his allies decided to push through legislation rechartering the Bank before Jackson stood for reelection in 1832. Confidently rejecting most reform proposals, the Bank’s friends calculated that Jackson would not dare risk a controversy over the Bank in an election year. It was the first of several spectacular miscalculations.
“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes,” Jackson declared in his message vetoing the Bank’s charter.