sentatives opposed the
bill. The Representatives of the Middle States ranged themselves
emphatically on the side of protection; and with them stood the
Congressmen from Ohio and Kentucky.

The close of the war found the country with a badly disordered currency
and with a bankrupt treasury. Nowhere were the remedial efforts of
Congress needed more. The condition of the currency was due, in part at
least, to the failure of Congress in 1811 to perceive the regulative
influence of a national bank. By refusing to recharter the United States
Bank, Congress not only deprived the Treasury of an exceedingly valuable
fiscal agent during the war, but also threw the door wide open to
indiscriminate and unregulated state banking. Between 1811 and 1816 the
number of these state institutions increased from eighty-eight to two
hundred and forty-six, all of which exercised the right of issuing notes
with little or no restriction. Inflation followed inevitably. During the
blockade the banks of the Middle and Southern States suffered great
distress by the constant drain of specie to New England and abroad.
After the capture of Washington, practically all banks outside of New
England were forced to suspend specie payments. The country experienced
once more all the evils of a depreciated currency. Southern bank notes
were refused for deposit in Philadelphia banks. Notes of these
institutions in Philadelphia, in turn, were subject to a discount of
twenty-four per cent in Boston. Uncertainty and distrust demoralized
financial operations everywhere.

Wiser by the experience of five years, Congress was now disposed to
establish another national bank. A first bill, however, fell short of
the President's desires and was vetoed. A second bill became law on
April 10, 1816. The provisions of this Bank of the United States
differed in several particulars from that chartered in 1790. Its capital
was three and one half times as large. One fifth of the total capital
of $35,000,000 was to be subscribed by the Government, and the remainder
by individuals. Five of the twenty-five directors were to be appointed
by the President of the United States. The funds of the Government were
to be deposited in the Bank unless the Secretary of the Treasury should
otherwise direct, laying his reasons for any such change before
Congress. In return for the privileges granted in the charter, the Bank
was required to transfer the government funds from place to place
with