as unconstitutional and
even hinted at corruption. He refused to assent to the proposition that
the Supreme Court had settled the question of constitutionality by the
decision in the McCulloch case. "Each public officer," he argued, "who
takes an oath to support the Constitution, swears that he will support
it as he understands it, not as it is understood by others."

Not satisfied with his veto and his declaration against the bank,
Jackson ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to withdraw the government
deposits which formed a large part of the institution's funds. This
action he followed up by an open charge that the bank had used money
shamefully to secure the return of its supporters to Congress. The
Senate, stung by this charge, solemnly resolved that Jackson had
"assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the
Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both."

The effects of the destruction of the bank were widespread. When its
charter expired in 1836, banking was once more committed to the control
of the states. The state legislatures, under a decision rendered by the
Supreme Court after the death of Marshall, began to charter banks under
state ownership and control, with full power to issue paper money--this
in spite of the provision in the Constitution that states shall not
issue bills of credit or make anything but gold and silver coin legal
tender in the payment of debts. Once more the country was flooded by
paper currency of uncertain value. To make matters worse, Jackson
adopted the practice of depositing huge amounts of government funds in
these banks, not forgetting to render favors to those institutions which
supported him in politics--"pet banks," as they were styled at the
time. In 1837, partially, though by no means entirely, as a result of
the abolition of the bank, the country was plunged into one of the most
disastrous panics which it ever experienced.

=Internal Improvements Checked.=--The bank had presented to Jackson a
very clear problem--one of destruction. Other questions were not so
simple, particularly the subject of federal appropriations in aid of
roads and other internal improvements. Jefferson had strongly favored
government assistance in such matters, but his administration was
followed by a reaction. Both Madison and Monroe vetoed acts of Congress
appropriating public funds for public roads, advancing as their reason
the argument that the Constitution authorized no suc