JACKSON APPOINTS DIRECTOR TO SECOND BANK OF THE UNITED STATES JACKSON, ANDREW. Document Signed, as President, appointing Levi Ellmaker a Director of the Bank of the United States. Countersigned by Secretary of State John Forsyth. 1 page, folio, with integral blank; complete separation at horizontal fold, moderate brittling to edges, faint uneven discoloration overall, vertical fold through "w" of signature (without loss), paper seal intact. Washington, 2 February 1835
According to the Act to Incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of the United States, passed by Congress on April 10, 1816, the president may appoint five of the 25 directors of the Bank, making the present document one of five or fewer. By vetoing the bill to recharter the Second Bank in 1832 and by subsequently depleting the Bank by redirecting federal deposits to private banks, Jackson made the prospect of renewing the charter before its expiration in 1836 more and more unlikely. In March of 1836, the Second Bank became a private corporation, bringing the national bank to an end. The consequent shortage of currency contributed to the Panic of 1837.
