Of this the country
became abundantly satisfied, and at the close of its twenty years'
duration, as in the case of the first bank, it also ceased to exist.
Under the repeated blows of _President Jackson_ it reeled and fell, and
a subsequent attempt to charter a similar institution was arrested by
the _veto_ of President Tyler.
_Mr. Madison_, in yielding his signature to the charter of 1816, did so
upon the ground of the respect due to precedents; and, as he
subsequently declared--
The Bank of the United States, though on the original question held
to be unconstitutional, received the Executive signature.
It is probable that neither the bank of 1791 nor that of 1816 would have
been chartered but for the embarrassments of the Government in its
finances, the derangement of the currency, and the pecuniary pressure
which existed, the first the consequence of the War of the Revolution
and the second the consequence of the War of 1812. Both were resorted to
in the delusive hope that they would restore public credit and afford
relief to the Government and to the business of the country.
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