[Footnote 3:  Chancellor Kent, the presiding officer.]

[Footnote 4:  Judge Spencer.]

THE PRESIDENTIAL VETO OF THE UNITED STATES BANK BILL.

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE 11TH OF
JULY, 1832, ON THE PRESIDENT’S VETO OF THE BANK BILL.

Mr. President,—­No one will deny the high importance of the subject now before us.  Congress, after full deliberation and discussion, has passed a bill, by decisive majorities, in both houses, for extending the duration of the Bank of the United States.  It has not adopted this measure until its attention had been called to the subject, in three successive annual messages of the President.  The bill having been thus passed by both houses, and having been duly presented to the President, instead of signing and approving it, he has returned it with objections.  These objections go against the whole substance of the law originally creating the bank.  They deny, in effect, that the bank is constitutional; they deny that it is expedient; they deny that it is necessary for the public service.

It is not to be doubted, that the Constitution gives the President the power which he has now exercised; but while the power is admitted, the grounds upon which it has been exerted become fit subjects of examination.  The Constitution makes it the duty of Congress, in cases like this, to reconsider the measure which they have passed, to weigh the force of the President’s objections to that measure, and to take a new vote upon the question.

Before the Senate proceeds to this second vote, I propose to make some remarks upon those objections.  And, in the first place, it is to be observed, that they are such as to extinguish all hope that the present bank, or any bank at all resembling it, or resembling any known similar institution, can ever receive his approbation.  He states no terms, no qualifications, no conditions, no modifications, which can reconcile him to the essential provisions of the existing charter.  He is against the bank, and against any bank constituted in a manner known either to this or any other country.  One advantage, therefore, is certainly obtained by presenting him the bill.  It has caused the President’s sentiments to be made known.  There is no longer any mystery, no longer a contest between hope and fear, or between those prophets who predicted a veto and those who foretold an approval.  The bill is negatived; the President has assumed the responsibility of putting an end to the bank; and the country must prepare itself to meet that change in its concerns which the expiration of the charter will produce.  Mr. President, I will not conceal my opinion that the affairs of the country are approaching an important and dangerous crisis.  At the very moment of almost unparalleled general prosperity, there appears an unaccountable disposition to destroy the most useful and most approved