Introduction -- Public printers, private struggles: the party press and the early American state -- "A very able state paper": Amos Kendall and the rise of the Globe -- The monster strikes back: Nicholas Biddle and the public relations campaign to recharter the Second Bank, 1828-1832 -- Monster news! Veto and reelection -- Two sides of the same coin: the Panic of 1833-1834 and the loss of public support -- An unholy trinity: banks, newspapers, and postmasters during the Post Office Scandal, 1834-1835 -- Conclusion: 1835 and beyond Appendix 1: How the Bank worked -- Appendix 2: Average percentage of domestic bills of exchange purchased at each branch office according to region, 1832 -- Appendix 3: BUS note circulation, divided by branch offices in slave states and free states, February 1832.
Summary:
" President Andrew Jackson's conflict with the Second Bank of the United States was one of the most consequential political struggles in the early nineteenth century. A fight over the bank's reauthorization, the Bank War, provoked fundamental disagreements over the role of money in politics, competing constitutional interpretations, equal opportunity in the face of a state-sanctioned monopoly, and the importance of financial regulation--all of which cemented emerging differences between Jacksonian Democrats and Whigs. As Stephen W. Campbell argues here, both sides in the Bank War engaged interregional communications networks funded by public and private money. The first reappraisal of this political turning point in US history in almost fifty years, The Bank War and the Partisan Press advances a new interpretation by focusing on the funding and dissemination of the party press. Drawing on insights from the fields of political history, the history of journalism, and financial history, The Bank War and the Partisan Press brings to light a revolving cast of newspaper editors, financiers, and postal workers who appropriated the financial resources of preexisting political institutions--and even created new ones--to enrich themselves and further their careers. The bank propagated favorable media and tracked public opinion through its system of branch offices while the Jacksonians did the same by harnessing the patronage networks of the Post Office. Campbell's work contextualizes the Bank War within larger political and economic developments at the national and international levels. Its focus on the newspaper business documents the transition from a seemingly simple question of renewing the bank's charter to a multisided, nationwide sensation that sorted the US public into ideologically polarized political parties. In doing so, The Bank War and the Partisan Press shows how the conflict played out on the ground level in various states--in riots, duels, raucous public meetings, politically orchestrated bank runs, arson, and assassination attempts. The resulting narrative moves beyond the traditional boxing match between Jackson and bank president Nicholas Biddle, balancing political institutions with individual actors, and business practices with party attitudes. "-- Provided by publisher. "The Bank War--Andrew Jackson's conflict with Nicholas Biddle, the president of the Second Bank of the United States-lasted from 1828 to 1836, resulted in the dismantling of Biddle's bank, and contributed to the formation of the Democratic and Whig Parties. The Bank War and the Partisan Press offers a new interpretation of the Bank War by exploring the impact of the nation's communications networks, primarily focusing on the funding and dissemination of the party press. The newspaper business depended heavily on public subsidies in the form of printing contracts and the delivery of newspapers through the mail at low costs. Campbell examines the ways in which federal and state bureaucracies facilitated social advancement among ordinary white men like newspaper editor Amos Kendall, a close ally and informal advisor of the president who authored most of Jackson's bank veto message. By showing how public money could make or break the fortunes of party newspapers, Campbell emphasizes the importance of the state in the nation's early political economy and the ubiquitous nature of public-private businesses in Jacksonian America"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.