Second Bank of the United States in the context of "Old City Historic District"

The Bank War was a political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (B.U.S.) during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837). This resulted in the shutdown of the Bank and its replacement by state banks.

The Second Bank of the United States was chartered for twenty years as a private institution with exclusive authority to operate on a national scale. While its stated purpose was to stabilize the American economy through a uniform currency and stronger federal presence, critics questioned whom it truly served. Supporters claimed that the Bank helped regulate prices, extend credit, provide a reliable currency, and offer essential services to the Treasury. However, Jacksonian Democrats and other opponents highlighted troubling examples of favoritism, alleging that the Bank catered to wealthy merchants and speculators while sidelining farmers, artisans, and small businesses. They pointed to the Bank's use of public funds for risky private ventures and its entanglement in political affairs as evidence of undue influence. For many, its blend of public authority and private profit was unconstitutional and eroded democratic ideals and state sovereignty. To its detractors, the Bank was a symbol of elite privilege and a potential threat to individual liberty.

Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States from March 4, 1829, to March 4, 1837. Jackson took office after defeating John Quincy Adams, the incumbent president, in the bitterly contested 1828 presidential election. During the 1828 presidential campaign, Jackson founded the political force that coalesced into the Democratic Party during Jackson's presidency. Jackson won re-election in 1832, defeating National Republican candidate Henry Clay by a wide margin. He was succeeded by his hand-picked successor and vice president, Martin Van Buren, who won the 1836 presidential election.

Jackson's presidency saw several important developments in domestic policy. A strong supporter of the removal of Native American tribes from U.S. territory east of the Mississippi River, Jackson began the process of forced relocation known as the "Trail of Tears". He instituted the spoils system for federal government positions, using his patronage powers to build a powerful and united Democratic Party. In response to the nullification crisis, Jackson threatened to send federal soldiers into South Carolina, but the crisis was defused by the passage of the Tariff of 1833. He engaged in a long struggle with the Second Bank of the United States, which he viewed as an anti-democratic bastion of elitism. Jackson emerged triumphant in the "Bank War" and the federal charter of the Second Bank of the United States expired in 1836. The destruction of the bank and Jackson's hard money policies would contribute to the Panic of 1837. Foreign affairs were less eventful than domestic affairs during Jackson's presidency, but Jackson pursued numerous commercial treaties with foreign powers and recognized the independence of the Republic of Texas.

In U.S. politics, the Great Triumvirate (known also as the Immortal Trio) was a triumvirate of three statesmen who dominated American politics for much of the first half of the 19th century, namely Henry Clay of Kentucky, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. These men's interactions in large part tell the story of politics under the Second Party System. All three were extremely active in politics, served at various times as Secretary of State, as Congressmen in the House of Representatives and served together as Senators in the Senate.

Clay, the oldest, emerged on the national political scene first, serving as counsel for Aaron Burr in his treason trial and serving two short stints in the Senate before being elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the Twelfth Congress. Calhoun was a freshman member of this Congress and his friendship and ideological closeness with Clay helped propel him to prominence as a leader of the war hawk faction agitating for a war which would eventually be declared as the War of 1812. Webster was elected in 1813 to Congress and immediately became a leading anti-war and anti-administration Federalist. Webster wrangled with the nationalists Clay and Calhoun on post-war issues such as the chartering of the Second Bank of the United States and the Tariff of 1816. After the Fourteenth Congress, Calhoun became Secretary of War and Webster declined reelection to focus on his law practice in Boston, a practice which took him before the Supreme Court in landmark cases like Dartmouth College v. Woodward, Gibbons v. Ogden, and McCullouch v. Maryland in which he represented the Bank of the United States.

McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that defined the scope of the U.S. Congress's legislative power and how it relates to the powers of American state legislatures. The dispute in McCulloch involved the legality of the national bank and a tax that the state of Maryland imposed on it. In its ruling, the Supreme Court established firstly that the "Necessary and Proper" Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. federal government certain implied powers necessary and proper for the exercise of the powers enumerated explicitly in the Constitution, and secondly that the American federal government is supreme over the states, and so states' ability to interfere with the federal government is restricted. Since the legislature has the authority to tax and spend, the court held that it therefore has authority to establish a national bank, as being "necessary and proper" to that end.

The state of Maryland had attempted to impede an operation by the Second Bank of the United States through a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. Though the law, by its language, was generally applicable to all banks not chartered in Maryland, the Second Bank of the United States was the only out-of-state bank then existing in Maryland, and the law was thus recognized in the court's opinion as having specifically targeted the Bank of the United States. The Court invoked the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, which allows the federal government to pass laws not expressly provided for in the Constitution's list of enumerated powers of Congress if such laws are necessary and proper to further the powers expressly authorized.

George Mifflin Dallas (July 10, 1792 – December 31, 1864) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 11th vice president of the United States from 1845 to 1849. He also served as the mayor of Philadelphia from 1828 to 1829, and as the U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom from 1856 to 1861. Dallas is possibly the namesake of Dallas, Texas.

Born in Philadelphia, Dallas was a son of U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander J. Dallas, and studied law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar in 1813. He served as the private secretary to Albert Gallatin and worked for the Treasury Department and the Second Bank of the United States. He emerged as a leader of the Family Party faction of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. Dallas developed a rivalry with James Buchanan, the leader of the Amalgamator faction. Between 1828 and 1835, he served as the mayor of Philadelphia, U.S. attorney for the U.S. District Court of Pennsylvania and as Pennsylvania's attorney general. He also represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1831 to 1833 but declined to seek re-election. President Martin Van Buren appointed Dallas to the post of Minister to Russia, and Dallas held that position from 1837 to 1839.