ANDREW JACKSON COMMENTS on the ECONOMIC CRISIS and Ending the FED

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Andrew Jackson Comments on the Economic Crisis and Ending the Fed

Posted by Matt Hawes on 10/17/08 source: campaignforliberty.com

Matt Hawes: Well, not quite, but the warnings against the paper money system made in his 1837 farewell address can be directly transferred to our day.

"The distress and sufferings inflicted on the people by the bank are some of the fruits of that system of policy which is continually striving to enlarge the authority of the Federal Government beyond the limits fixed by the Constitution. The powers enumerated in that instrument do not confer on Congress the right to establish such a corporation as the Bank of the United States, and the evil consequences which followed may warn us of the danger of departing from the true rule of construction and of permitting temporary circumstances or the hope of better promoting the public welfare to influence in any degree our decisions upon the extent of the authority of the General Government. Let us abide by the Constitution as it is written, or amend it in the constitutional mode if it is found to be defective...."

"The paper-money system and its natural associations--monopoly and exclusive privileges--have already struck their roots too deep in the soil, and it will require all your efforts to check its further growth and to eradicate the evil. The men who profit by the abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege the halls of legislation in the General Government as well as in the States, and will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the public servants. It is to yourselves that you must look for safety and the means of guarding and perpetuating your free institutions. In your hands is rightfully placed the sovereignty of the country, and to you everyone placed in authority is ultimately responsible."

Matt Hawes: An ominous task nowadays to be sure, but one which Jackson was confident the people could win if they stuck at it.

"But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support. So many interests are united to resist all reform on this subject that you must not hope the conflict will be a short one nor success easy. My humble efforts have not been spared during my administration of the Government to restore the constitutional currency of gold and silver, and something, I trust, has been done toward the accomplishment of this most desirable object; but enough yet remains to require all your energy and perseverance. The power, however, is in your hands, and the remedy must and will be applied if you determine upon it."

Matt Hawes: There are two main courses of action to take.

First, we must educate ourselves so that we can not only articulate sound economics, but also adequately combat the pro-fiat arguments.

Second, we must spread the word.

One great step toward that second goal would be to forward around Dr. Paul's CNN interview (available at campaignforliberty.com) from earlier this morning, 10/17 to your friends and family.

(Source for Jackson's Address: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=67087)


Andrew Jackson 'Old Hickory', Seventh President of the United States 1829 - 1837
Military Governor of Florida 1821
US Representative Tennessee 1796
US Senator Democratic-Republican 1797
Judge Tennessee Supreme Court 1798 - 1804

Second Bank of the United States...Opposition to the National Bank

The Second Bank of the United States was authorized for a twenty year period during James Madison's tenure in 1816. As President, Jackson worked to rescind the bank's federal charter. In Jackson's veto message (written by George Bancroft), the bank needed to be abolished because:

~It concentrated the nation's financial strength in a single institution.
~It exposed the government to control by foreign interests.
~It served mainly to make the rich richer.
~It exercised too much control over members of Congress.
~It favored northeastern states over southern and western states

Following Jefferson, Jackson supported an "agricultural republic" and felt the Bank improved the fortunes of an "elite circle" of commercial and industrial entrepreneurs at the expense of farmers and laborers. After a titanic struggle, Jackson succeeded in destroying the Bank by vetoing its 1832 re-charter by Congress and by withdrawing U.S. funds in 1833.

1833 Democratic cartoon shows Jackson destroying the devil's Bank

The bank's money-lending functions were taken over by the legions of local and state banks that sprang up. This fed an expansion of credit and speculation. At first, as Jackson withdrew money from the Bank to invest it in other banks, land sales, canal construction, cotton production, and manufacturing boomed. However, due to the practice of banks issuing paper banknotes that were not backed by gold or silver reserves, there was soon rapid inflation and mounting state debts. Then, in 1836, Jackson issued the Specie Circular, which required buyers of government lands to pay in "specie" (gold or silver coins). The result was a great demand for specie, which many banks did not have enough of to exchange for their notes. These banks collapsed. This was a direct cause of the Panic of 1837, which threw the national economy into a deep depression. It took years for the economy to recover from the damage.

The U.S. Senate censured Jackson on March 28, 1834, for his action in removing U.S. funds from the Bank of the United States. When the Jacksonians had a majority in the Senate, the censure was expunged.

source: wikipedia

endthefed.us rally 11/22/2008