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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English about thehistory of the United States.

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Andrew Jackson was elected president in eighteen-twenty-eight. Hewas popular with voters. But he was not sure he wanted to run forre-election in eighteen-thirty-two. He was getting old. He sufferedfrom health problems. Yet he wanted to give voters a chance to showtheir approval of his programs. So, Jackson made a decision. Hewould run again. If he won, however, he would resign after the firstor second year. He would leave the job to his vice president.

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President Jackson spoke of thisplan to the man he wanted as his vice president, Martin van Buren.He made the offer in eighteen-thirty, when Van Buren was still hissecretary of state. Van Buren thanked Jackson for the offer.However, he rejected it. Van Buren said it would be politicallydangerous. He did not want anyone to say that he had been broughtinto the presidency in secret. Jackson did not give up his idea. Formore than a year, he continued to urge Van Buren to accept theoffer. Van Buren continued to say "no". He agreed to be Jackson'svice presidential candidate in eighteen-thirty-two. But he said hedid not want to become president without being elected by thepeople.

VOICE ONE:

As the election got closer, Jackson's health began to improve. Hebegan to think about serving a second full term. One thing thathelped was an operation to remove a bullet from his arm. He hadreceived the wound during a gun fight with another man about twentyyears earlier. It troubled him so badly that sometimes he could notuse the arm. Doctors were afraid to remove the bullet. They thoughtit might cause a terrible shock to his heart.

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Early in the election year, a doctor said he believed the bulletcould be removed easily. He told the president that it was poisoninghis whole body. Jackson asked the doctor to cut out the bullet atonce. The operation was over in a few minutes. Jackson's healthquickly became much better. A funny little story was told about thatbullet. Someone reportedly said Jackson should give it to the familyof the man who shot him. One family member rejected the offer. Hesaid Jackson had possessed the bullet for twenty years. So, he said,under the law, Jackson had clear ownership to it. "Only nineteenyears," someone noted. "Oh," the man said, "that is all right. SinceJackson took good care of it, I will forget the extra year."

VOICE ONE:

The presidential election campaign of eighteen-thirty-two wasbitter. President Jackson was, once again, the candidate of theDemocratic Party. Henry Clay was the candidate of the NationalRepublican Party. Clay had the support of Nicholas Biddle, who washead of the Bank of the United States. He also had the support ofabout two-thirds of the nation's newspapers. This was because mostof them owed money to the bank. Most wealthy people supported Clay,too. Farmers and laborers supported Jackson. They showed theirsupport by marching in parades and holding big, noisy publicmeetings.

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On election day, the people showed that Jackson was still theirpresident. There was a much bigger difference in popular votesbetween Jackson and Clay than between Jackson and John Quincy Adamsfour years earlier. As the votes were counted, one of Clay'ssupporters said: "The news blows over us like a great cold storm."Jackson received about six-hundred eighty-eight-thousand popularvotes. Clay received about four-hundred seventy-three-thousandvotes. In the electoral college, Jackson got more than four timesthe number of votes than Clay got. Jackson's vice president would beMartin van Buren.

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Andrew Jackson saw his re-election as proof that the Americanpeople approved of his policies. This included his policy to closethe Bank of the United States when its charter ended ineighteen-thirty-six. During his second term, Jackson decided on aplan to reduce the bank's economic power. He would stop puttingfederal money into the bank. Instead, he would put it into statebanks. This would greatly reduce the amount of money the Bank of theUnited States could use.

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The plan was not as easy as it seemed. The charter for the banksaid federal money had to be kept there unless the secretary of thetreasury ordered it put some place else. President Jackson'streasury secretary was friendly to the bank. He would not give theorder. Jackson would have to dismiss the man and appoint someone whosupported his plan. But the treasury secretary was a powerfulpolitician. Jackson could not push him out of the job. He had tofind another way. So he decided to reorganize his whole cabinet.

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Jackson named his secretary of state to be Minister to France. Henamed his treasury secretary to be secretary of state. Then hebrought in someone new as secretary of the treasury. That turned outto be a mistake. The new treasury secretary refused to put federalmoney anywhere but in the Bank of the United States. He also refusedto resign when Jackson asked him to resign. So Jackson dismissed himand named yet another new treasury secretary.

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This man immediately ordered that after October first,eighteen-thirty-three, all federal money was to be put intotwenty-three state banks. He did not withdraw the government moneyalready in the Bank of the United States. He said this money couldbe used to make payments until it was all gone. Nicholas Biddle, thehead of the bank, fought back. He ordered the immediate repayment ofall bank loans. He also withdrew from public use large numbers ofbank notes. People had been using the notes as money.

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These actions caused serious economic difficulties throughout thecountry. Many businesses failed. They could not pay back their loansor borrow the money they needed. As businesses failed, workers losttheir jobs. Nicholas Biddle said the Jackson administration wasresponsible for all the trouble. He said the bank was forced to takefirm measures, because it was losing government money. He toldpeople to protest to the administration. Critics of PresidentJackson's bank policy called him "King Andrew The First. "

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Groups of businessmen called on the president at the White House.T hey urged him to put government money back into the bank. Jacksontold one group: "I will never restore the money. I will never renewthe charter of the Bank of the United States. If you want help, goto Nicholas Bddle. "

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The president's actions worried even some of his supporters.There could be serious long-term effects of closing the Bank of theUnited States. Some of his supporters in Congress went to see him.They warned him of reports that a mob was forming to march onWashington. They told him that the mob planned to seize the capitolbuilding until Congress returned government money to the bank."Gentlemen," Jackson said, "I will be glad to see this mob onCapitol Hill. I will hang its leaders high. That should stop foreverall attempts to control Congress by force." We will continue ourstory of Andrew Jackson's second term as president next week.

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VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THEMAKING OF A NATION. Y our narrators were Sarah Long and RichKleinfeldt. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. Join usagain next week at this time for another report about the history ofthe United States.

VOICE ONE:

VOA Special English programs can be heard every day in most partsof the world. Feature programs follow the latest world news.AMERICAN MOSAIC is our radio magazine. American stories presentshort stories by American writers. This is America reports aboutlife in the United States today. SCIENCE IN THE NEWS tells about thelatest developments in science and technology. EXPLORATIONS reportsabout outer space, the human body, and the world in which we liveand work. And this program, THE MAKING OF A NATION, tells thehistory of the United States.

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