Andrew Jackson and the Bank?

Peter Temin, author of Jacksonian Economy, presents a strong argument, saying that it is wrong to place the blame for the economic crisis of the 1830’s on President Andrew Jackson. The evidence Temin presents in his argument shows that Jackson truly did not cause this crisis. Jackson did not create the monster that became the economy of the United States, because Jackson could not control the circumstances that were occurring the economy. Circumstances, including international trade, external economic booms, and fluctuations in the American cotton market were the true causes of this crisis. The cotton market went through get changes during the 1830’s, caused by trade on the foreign markets. The international trade involving the United Kingdom and the United States helped to cause inflation and the land boom in the United States. The United Kingdom raised their demand for cotton, causing the land boom, the increase on the price of cotton, a trade deficit in the United States, and helped to spur inflation in the United States. It is evident that Jackson’s veto of the rechartering of the Second Bank of the United States played a much smaller role in the causes of the crisis of the 1830’s than had been previously thought.
Inflation was caused by a number of factors in the United States during the 1830’s. One such factor was what Temin referred to as the “Opium War.” Silver was an export of Mexico, and during the 1830’s, the quantity of silver increased. Inflation in the United States reduced the amount that silver could buy in the American market. The United States had a constant trade deficit with China, which was paid for by Mexican silver in the 1820’s. The Chinese imported opium from the United Kingdom and paid for it by both silver and exports. In order to prevent unnecessary transportation, it was proven to be more efficient by having the American merchant “…send a bill on London to the Orient. He could buy opium from the English merchant with the bill and Chinese goods with the opium.” This being said, this was a major cause of American inflation, and it was out of the hands of President Jackson and banking president Nicholas Biddle.
Another factor, and probably the biggest factor, for this inflation was the supply-and-demand on the American cotton market. Temin claimed that the cotton market both aided inflation and hindered inflation. It aided inflation, because it encouraged the increase in the land boom. On the other hand, it also increased the demand for cotton from Great Britain. Cotton was been thought to have been the cause of the Panic of 1837, but Temin claims that the primary cause for this panic was the Bank of England, which had affected the price of cotton. A key point here is that cotton prices alone could not have caused the economic crisis. Supply and demand was a major factor of this economic crisis, which was something that the president had no control over. It can be said that the crisis had international causes but a domestic effect. If the United Kingdom had a bad few years of harvest prior to their increased demand for cotton, the United Kingdom would not have been interested in investing their money into the United States at that time.
The true cause of the boom and inflation was very good harvests in the United Kingdom, which peaked the interests of the United Kingdom to invest into the United States market. This interest in investment caused an increased demand from the United Kingdom for cotton from the United States, raising the prices. The prices in the United States had to increase in order to make the imported goods from the United Kingdom cheaper and preferable. Both American imports and exports had increased, creating a trade deficit. The demand of the United Kingdom acted to increase inflation by reducing this trade deficit, but it also slow inflation by starting the land boom. With increased cotton prices came the increased land sales in the United States. The true cause of the Panic of 1837 was not President Andrew Jackson but actually a decrease of the capital flow from the Bank of England when it decreased the flow to the United States. This decrease of capital flow to the United States caused the price of cotton to drop, causing the Panic of 1837.

We need a President like A. Jackson today. If he were debating Obama he would have just walked across the stage and beat him with his hickory stick for blathering such a load of BS. Anyways, disolving the National bank was a great thing to do, it enabled him to eliminate the nation debt- he was the only president to achieve that.