hat period were very pronounced in their opposition.

"The banking system concentrates and places the power in the hands of
those who control it.

"Never was an engine invented better calculated to place the destines
of the many in the hands of the few, or less favorable to that
equality and independence which lies at the bottom of our free
institutions."--J.C. Calhoun.

"I object to the continuance of this bank because its tendencies are
dangerous and pernicious to the government and the people. It tends to
aggravate the inequality of fortunes; to make the rich richer, and the
poor poorer; to multiply nabobs and paupers, and to deepen and widen
the gulf that separates Dives from Lazarus."--Thomas H. Benton.

"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous
than standing armies. I am not among those who fear the people. They
and not the rich are our dependence for continued freedom. And to
preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with
perpetual debts."--Thomas Jefferson.

"Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American
people, that the mischief and dangers which flow from a national bank
far overbalance all its advantages."--Andrew Jackson.

The usurers were compelled to remain under public condemnation during
thirty years, as sentiment was strongly against them and conditions
were not in their favor, but they did not relax their watchful effort
nor abandon hope of ultimate success. When the nation was struggling
to prevent its dissolution in 1861-5, and unusual war measures seemed
necessary to meet the great emergency, the usurers saw their
opportunity and came forward, as they did in Venice and England; they
would loan the government the funds necessary to carry on the war, if
the government would comply with their conditions and grant them the
privileges demanded. They asked that their loan be perpetual, like the
English loan; that they should be freed from the burdens of the
government; that their loan should be free from taxation; that they
should receive their interest semi-annually, and not in the common
legal tender, but in coin; that they be permitted to issue their own
notes as currency to be loaned to their customers; that the government
discredit its own issues and endorse theirs; and that they be given a
monopoly by taxing out of existence all opposition.

These were great demands, and were regarded as extortionate and
oppressive. The s