It also appears by the
same Journal and by the files of the Senate that the legislatures of
these States had severally expressed their opinions in respect to the
Executive proceedings drawn in question before the Senate.
The two branches of the legislature of the State of Maine on the 25th
of January, 1834, passed a preamble and series of resolutions in the
following words:
Whereas at an early period after the election of Andrew Jackson to the
Presidency, in accordance with the sentiments which he had uniformly
expressed, the attention of Congress was called to the constitutionality
and expediency of the renewal of the charter of the United States Bank;
and
Whereas the bank has transcended its chartered limits in the management
of its business transactions, and has abandoned the object of its
creation by engaging in political controversies, by wielding its power
and influence to embarrass the Administration of the General Government,
and by bringing insolvency and distress upon the commercial community;
and
Whereas the public security from such an institution consists less in
its present pecuniary capacity to discharge its liabilities than in the
fidelity with which the trusts reposed in it have been executed; and
Whereas the abuse and misapplication of the powers conferred have
destroyed the confidence of the public in the officers of the bank and
demonstrated that such powers endanger the stability of republican
institutions: Therefore,
_Resolved_, That in the removal of the public deposits from the Bank
of the United States, as well as in the manner of their removal, we
recognize in the Administration an adherence to constitutional rights
and the performance of a public duty.
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