President Andrew Jackson had Secretary Taney read a statement to the Cabinet that Jackson and Taney had prepared on why the deposits should be removed, referring to the National Bank:
“The Bank of the United States is in itself a Government which has gradually increased its strength from the day of its establishment. The question between it an the people has become one of power – a question which its adherents do not scruple to avow must ultimately be decided in favor of the Bank… The mass of people have more to fear from combinations of the wealthy and professional classes – from an aristocracy which thro’ the influence of riches and talents, insidiously employed, sometimes succeeds in preventing political institutions, however well adjusted, from securing the freedom of the citizen, and in establishing the most odious and oppressive government under the forms of a free institution.”
– From “Paper read to the Cabinet” in the Jackson Papers, L.C.; as quoted in Remini, 1967, Bank War, p. 119.
