<P> Resigning in January 1819, Jones was replaced by Langdon Cheves who continued the contraction in credit in an effort to stop inflation and stabilize the bank, even as the economy began to correct . The central bank's reaction to the crisis--a clumsy expansion, then a sharp contraction of credit--indicated its weakness, not its strength . The effects were catastrophic, resulting in a protracted recession with mass unemployment and a sharp drop in property values that persisted until 1822 . The financial crisis raised doubts among the American public as to the efficacy of paper money, and in whose interests a national system of finance operated . Upon this widespread disaffection the anti-bank Jacksonian Democrats would mobilize opposition to the BUS in the 1830s . The national bank was in general disrepute among most Americans when Nicholas Biddle, the third and last president of the bank, was appointed by President James Monroe in 1823 . </P> <P> Under Biddle's guidance, the BUS evolved into a powerful banking institution that produced a strong and sound system of national credit and currency . From 1823 to 1833, Biddle expanded credit steadily, but with restraint, in a manner that served the needs of the expanding American economy . Albert Gallatin, former Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, wrote in 1831 that the BUS was fulfilling its charter expectations . </P> <P> By the time of Jackson's inauguration in 1829, the national bank appeared to be on solid footing . The U.S. Supreme Court had affirmed the constitutionality of the bank under McCulloch v. Maryland, the 1819 case which Daniel Webster had argued successfully on its behalf a decade earlier, the U.S. Treasury recognized the useful services it provided, and the American currency was healthy and stable . Public perceptions of the central bank were generally positive . The bank first came under attack by the Jackson administration in December 1829, on the grounds that it had failed to produce a stable national currency, and that it lacked constitutional legitimacy . Both houses of Congress responded with committee investigations and reports affirming the historical precedents for the bank's constitutionality and its pivotal role in furnishing a uniform currency . Jackson rejected these findings, and privately characterized the bank as a corrupt institution, dangerous to American liberties . </P> <P> Biddle made repeated overtures to Jackson and his cabinet to secure a compromise on the bank's rechartering (its term due to expire in 1836) without success . Jackson and the anti-bank forces persisted in their condemnation of the BUS, provoking an early recharter campaign by pro-bank National Republicans under Henry Clay . Clay's political ultimatum to Jackson--with Biddle's financial and political support--sparked the Bank War and placed the fate of the BUS at center of the 1832 presidential election . </P>

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