Nicholas Biddle (banker)
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Nicholas Biddle (January 8, 1786–February 27, 1844), American financier, was born and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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[edit] Ancestry and early life
Ancestors of the Biddle family immigrated to Pennsylvania with William Penn, and fought in the pre-Revolutionary colonial struggles. In the American Revolution, Charles, father of Nicholas, was prominent in his devotion to the cause, while his uncle, Nicholas Biddle was an early naval hero. Another uncle, Edward Biddle, was a member of the congress of 1774. Biddle was well educated; he entered the University of Pennsylvania at age 10 and when the university refused to award the teenager a degree, he transferred to Princeton and graduated in 1801, at age 15, as valedictorian.
Biddle was offered an official position before he had finished his law studies. As secretary to John Armstrong, a United States minister to France, he went abroad in 1804, was in Paris at the time of Napoleon's coronation, and afterward participated in an audit related to the Louisiana Purchase, acquiring his first experience in financial affairs. Biddle traveled extensively through Europe, returning to England to serve as secretary for James Monroe, then United States minister to the Court of St. James's. At Cambridge, Biddle took part in a conversation involving a comparison between the modern Greek dialect with that of Homer with Cambridge professors; the incident captured Monroe's attention.
In 1807, Biddle returned home to practice law and write, contributing papers on various subjects, but chiefly on the fine arts, to different publications. He became associate editor of a magazine called Port-Folio, which ran from 1806 to 1823. When editor Joseph Dennie died in 1812, Biddle took over the magazine.
Biddle also prepared Lewis and Clark's report of their exploratory expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River for publication, and he encouraged President Thomas Jefferson to write an introductory memoir of Captain Meriwether Lewis. However, Biddle's name does not appear on the work, as he was elected to the state legislature (1810–1811) and was compelled to turn over the project to Paul Allen, who supervised its publication, and, with the consent of all parties, was the recognized as the editor. Nevertheless, Robert T. Conrad has said that Biddle actually wrote the two volumes from Lewis and Clark's notes.
Biddle quickly became prominent in the Pennsylvania legislature. He originated a bill favoring popular education almost a quarter of a century in advance of the times. Though the bill was initially defeated, it resurfaced repeatedly in different forms until, in 1836, the Pennsylvania common-school system was inaugurated as an indirect result of his efforts.
Relatives of Biddle, most notably Ellen Broen of Virginia, continue to celebrate his legacy through interactive community discussions and family gatherings.
[edit] The Bank of the United States
After Biddle moved to the state senate, he lobbied for the rechartering of the Second Bank of the United States. The Bank was rechartered in 1816, and President Monroe appointed Biddle as a government director. Upon the resignation of Bank president Langdon Cheves in 1822, Biddle became president. During his connection with the Bank, he was directed by Monroe, under authority from Congress, to prepare a "Commercial Digest" of the laws and trade regulations of the world, which for many years was regarded as an authority on the subject.
During the Panic of 1819, a banking crisis and economic recession, critics charged that Biddle’s Bank was to blame due to its tight credit policy. However, from 1819–32, the nation became prosperous again.
The "Bank War", inaugurated by President Andrew Jackson in 1829, undermined the credit of the institution, and after the bill for its re-charter was vetoed in 1832, Biddle's efforts to save the bank's national charter failed. The Bank became a major issue in the 1832 election, but Biddle himself never affiliated with the Whig party. Biddle's friends assert that his non-partisanship provoked Jackson's hostility, a claim denied by Jackson's admirers. After the Bank lost its national charter in 1832, it continued to operate erratically as a state-chartered bank, partially causing the "Panic of 1837".
In 1839, Biddle resigned from his post of Bank President, and in 1841, the Bank finally failed. He was important in the establishment of Girard College under the provisions of the founder's will.
Nicholas Biddle was the brother of author Richard Biddle and William S. Biddle, and father of soldier Charles John Biddle.
[edit] References
[edit] Secondary sources
- Bodenhorn, Howard. A History of Banking in Antebellum America: Financial Markets and Economic Development in an Era of Nation-Building (2000). Stresses how all banks promoted faster growth in all regions.
- Hammond, Bray. Banks and Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War (1960), Pulitzer prize; the standard history. Pro-Bank
- Remini Robert V. Andrew Jackson and the Bank War: A Study in the Growth of Presidential Power (1967), pro-Jackson.
- Govan, Thomas Payne. Nicholas Biddle: Nationalist and Public Banker, 1786-1844 (1959). Comprehensive biography of Biddle.
- Schlesinger, Arthur Meier Jr. Age of Jackson (1946), Pulitzer prize winning intellectual history; strongly pro-Jackson.
- Taylor; George Rogers, ed. Jackson Versus Biddle: The Struggle over the Second Bank of the United States (1949). Primary and secondary sources.
- Temin, Peter. The Jacksonian Economy (1969).
- Wilburn, Jean Alexander. Biddle's Bank: The Crucial Years (1967). Narrative history, pro-Bank.
- Wilentz Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (2005). Pro-Jackson.
- "The Money Masters: How International Bankers Gained Control of America" - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4991544789166784731&q=money+masters
[edit] Primary sources
- McGrane, Reginald C. Ed. The Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle (1919)
This article incorporates text from the public domain Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.
