ulating jobbery and extravagance in Congress, as well as in other branches of the government. “We had a surplus which we knew not how to dispose of,” said Preston of South Carolina, in September, 1837. “The departments were stimulated and goaded on to find out how much they could spend, while the majority in Congress seemed to be employed in finding out how much they could give.” The surplus had to be disposed of, and Congress, at the session of 1835-1836, finally agreed upon a method.
A bill was passed which provided that the deposits of public funds in any one bank should not exceed three fourths of its “paid-in” capital stock; that the banks should pay all drafts on the public deposits in specie, if required; that no bank should have any public deposits that failed to redeem its notes in specie, and that circulated notes under five dollars; and, finally, that the surplus funds at the disposal of the treasury on January 1, 1837, reserving five millions, should be “deposited” with the several states in proportion to their representation in the Senate and the House of Representatives, to be paid back to the United States at the call of the Secretary of the Treasury. Jackson approved the bill in June, 1836, probably because, the presidential election impending, the failure of the popular distribution scheme through his veto might have injured Van Buren. In his message a few months later, he gave good reasons why he should not have signed it. Some of those who
