2004-5-19
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
(MUSIC)
The national election of
eighteen-thirty-two put Andrew Jackson in the White House for a
second term as president. One of the major events of his second term
was the fight against the Bank of the United States. Jackson
believed that the bank had grown too powerful. He urged Congress not
to re-new the bank's charter to do business. He also stopped putting
federal money into the Bank of the United States. Instead, he put
this money into state banks. The head of the Bank of the United
States was Nicholas Biddle.
Biddle fought with all his power to keep the bank open. He
created a financial panic and blamed it on President Jackson. Biddle
did this by demanding immediate repayment of private loans.
Businesses were in trouble without the bank's financial assistance.
Workers lost their jobs. President Jackson was warned of mob action.
But nothing happened. Most of the battle against the Bank of the
United States was fought in Congress.
VOICE TWO:
Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky led
the support for the bank. Clay was head of the opposition political
party, the National Republicans. Clay argued his case on the floor
of the Senate for three days. He strongly urged the Senate to re-new
the bank's charter. He said:
"The country is in the middle of a revolution...not yet a bloody
revolution. But things are happening that point to a total change of
the pure republican character of our government. Power is being
centered in the hands of one man." He meant President Jackson. Clay
added:
"If Congress does not act, the government will fail. And we will
all die as slaves."
Clay then asked the Senate to condemn Jackson for violating the
constitution and the nation's laws. The Senate approved the
resolution.
VOICE ONE:
Things went better for Jackson in the House of Representatives.
James Polk defended Jackson's opposition to the bank. Polk said:
"The bank set itself up as a great, irresponsible, competing
power of the government. If the bank wins this fight, no man
afterwards can expect to be elected to high office in this country
without first surrendering to the bank. The question is," Polk said,
"if we shall have the republic without the bank or the bank without
the republic."
VOICE TWO
As time passed, businessmen began to see that the Bnk of the
United States was being much tighter in its money policy than was
necessary. They began to feel that it was Biddle -- not Jackson --
who was responsible for the serious economic situation in the
country. Biddle took no responsibility for the financial crisis. He
said:
"The relief must come from Congress, and Congress alone. The bank
feels no need to right the wrongs caused by these miserable people.
This president thinks he is to have his way with the bank. He is
mistaken."
VOICE ONE:
Biddle then made a serious mistake. e asked the governor of
Pennsylvania to make a speech to the state legislature...a speech
supporting the bank. At the same time, Biddle refused to lend the
state of Pennsylvania three-hundred-thousand dollars. The governor
was furious. Instead of making a speech supporting the bank, he made
one that sharply criticized it. The upper house of the Pennsylvania
legislature agreed with the governor. Although Nicholas Biddle
threatened all sorts of action, the upper house passed a resolution
that Congress should not give the bank a new charter.
VOICE TWO:
Two days later, the governor of New York proposed that the state
sell four or five million dollars of stock for loans to help state
banks. The New York legislature approved selling even more. This
action would strengthen the state banks and help to break the power
of the Bank of the United States. Nicholas Biddle began to see that
the battle was lost. He started making more loans to business. The
economic panic he had started slowly ended.
VOICE ONE:
Jackson's victory over the Bank of the United States was clear.
Biddle started to lose the support of many members of Congress. In
the House of Representatives, James Polk proposed four resolutions
on the bank. One said the bank should not get a new charter. The
second resolution said government money should not be deposited in
the bank. The third said the government should continue to put its
money in state banks. And the fourth proposed an investigation of
the bank and the reasons for the economic panic in the country. All
four of these anti-bank resolutions were approved.
VOICE TWO:
One of Biddle's assistants described the feelings of bank
officials.
"This day," he said, "should be ripped from the history of our
republic. The president of the United States has seized the public
treasury in violation of the law of the land. And the
representatives of the people have approved his action."
Jackson's words were shorter: "I have won a glorious triumph."
VOICE ONE:
The other major event of Andrew Jackson's second term as
president was the situation in Texas. In an agreement with Spain in
eighteen-nineteen, the United States had given up its claim to
Texas. In exchange, Spain gave the United States all of Florida.
After Mexico won its independence from Spain in
eighteen-twenty-one, the United States tried to buy Texas. Mexico
did not want to sell. When Andrew Jackson became president he, too,
tried to buy Texas. Mexico still refused to sell.
VOICE TWO:
Texas was a rich land. But it was empty. Mexico decided to permit
Americans to build colonies in Texas. Stephen Austin formed the
first colony in eighteen-twenty-two. Each farming family in his
colony could have about eighty hectares of land.
Each family that wished to raise cattle could have about
two-thousand hectares. The settlers in Texas were able to buy the
land for almost nothing. But they had to promise to join the Roman
Catholic Church. They also had to promise to obey the laws of
Mexico. Most of the settlers came from the states of Tennessee,
Mississippi and Louisiana. Many owned slaves and brought the slaves
with them to Texas. During the eighteen-twenties, Americans poured
into Texas for the low-priced land.
VOICE ONE:
The leader of one American colony got into trouble with the
Mexican government. He was ordered to leave, but refused. With the
help of a few supporters, he seized the town of Nacogdoches. He
declared Texas to be an independent republic. He called it Fredonia.
This man expected the other American colonists to join him against
Mexico. He was wrong. Most of the colonists did not support him. In
fact, some even joined the Mexican force that put down his
rebellion. The man fled back across the border into the United
States.
VOICE TWO:
The rebellion failed. But it made Mexican leaders see the danger
of continuing to permit Americans to settle in Texas. The Mexican
government sent an official to inspect conditions along the border
with the United States. The official reported that as he traveled
north through Texas, he saw less and less that was Mexican...and
more and more that was American.
He said there were very few Mexicans in some towns. And these
Mexicans, he said, were extremely poor. He said the American
settlers were not becoming true Mexicans. They were not speaking
Spanish. They were not becoming Roman Catholics. And they were not
accepting Mexican traditions. The official said the situation in
Texas could throw the whole Mexican nation into revolution. He urged
Mexico to send troops to occupy Texas. That will be our story next
week.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Sarah Long and Bob Doughty.
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The Voice of America
invites you to listen to THE MAKING OF A NATION again next week at
this same time.