Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2): or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850Benton, Thomas Hart
History
Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2): or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850
Benton, Thomas Hart
United States -- Politics and government -- 1815-1861
I repeat, this is a measure of reform, worthy to be called a
reformation. It goes back to a fundamental abuse, nearly coeval
with the foundation of the government. Two epochs have occurred
for the reformation of this abuse; one was lost, the other is now
in jeopardy. Mr. Madison's administration committed a great error
at the expiration of the charter of the first Bank of the United
States, in not reviving the currency of the constitution for the
federal Treasury, and especially the gold currency. That error threw
the Treasury back upon the local bank paper. This paper quickly
failed, and out of that failure grew the second United States
Bank. Those who put down the second United States Bank, warned
by the calamity, determined to avoid the error of Mr. Madison's
administration: they determined to increase the stock of specie,
and to revive the gold circulation, which had been dead for thirty
years. The accumulation of eighty millions in the brief space of
five years, fifteen millions of it in gold, attest the sincerity of
their design, and the facility of its execution. The country was
going on at the rate of an average increase of twelve millions of
specie per annum, when the general stoppages of the banks in May
last, the exportation of specie, and the imposition of irredeemable
paper upon the government and the people, seemed to announce the
total failure of the plan. But it was a seeming only. The impetus
given to the specie policy still prevails, and five millions are
added to the stock during the present fiscal year. So far, then,
as the counteraction of the government policy, and the suppression
of the constitutional currency, might have been expected to result
from that stoppage, the calculation seems to be in a fair way to be
disappointed. The spirit of the people, and our hundred millions of
exportable produce, are giving the victory to the glorious policy
of our late illustrious President. The other great consequences
expected to result from that stoppage, namely, the recharter of
the Bank of the United States, the change of administration, the
overthrow of the republican party, and the restoration of the
federal dynasty, all seem to be in the same fair way to total
miscarriage; but the objects are too dazzling to be abandoned by
the party interested, and the destruction of the finances and the
currency, is still the cherished road to success. The miscalled
Bank of the United States, the soul of the federal dynasty, and the
anchor of its hopes--believed by many to have been at the bottom
of the stoppages in May, and known by all to be at the head of
non-resumption--now displays her policy on this floor; it is to
compel the repetition of the error of Mr. Madison's administration!
Knowing that from the repetition of this error must come the
repetition of the catastrophes of 1814, 1819, and 1837; and out of
these catastrophes to extract a new clamor for the revivification of
herself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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