Following the Panic of 1819 and the subsequent recession, the US's second attempt at a central bank got on with the job of holding the Treasury's money, controlling the currency and regulating the nation's banks. It had some success, though it was widely blamed for causing the Panic and the pain that ensued. Then, in 1824, thanks to what he called the "corrupt bargain," the sort-of-populist candidate Andrew Jackson lost the presidential election and immediately started campaigning for the 1828 rerun, taking aim at elites, banks, bankers and so on. Sound familiar? The Bank of the United States was drawn into the conflict, triggering the "bank war," which of course got personal very fast, and involved horsewhipping (why not?) a duel or two, fake news and other types of skuldggery, as the bank and its boss fought to have its federal charter renewed in the teeth of opposition from the nation's President. Oh, and Leonard Cohen makes an appearance.
This is the second part of the series. In the third and final part, which will drop in the next fortnight, we will deal with the outcome of that battle and the fallout from the "bank war."
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