was consulted upon the subject. The exceptions were very few. In the business community there seemed to be but one voice about it. The mere rumor that the removal of the deposits was in contemplation greatly disturbed the money market.
But all this failed to stagger Jackson's resolution. The important question, what to do with the public funds after the removal from the United States Bank, — whether state banks could be found to which they could be intrusted safely and upon proper conditions, — puzzled and disquieted others, but not him. He was firm in the belief that the United States Bank used the public money to break down the government, and must therefore be stripped of it without unnecessary delay. But Duane refused. Jackson argued with him in vain. Duane knew that his position was at stake. He knew, as he afterwards said, that there was an “irresponsible cabal” at work, an “influence unknown to the Constitution and to the people,” which took advantage of President Jackson's hot impulses. He would not become a party to a scheme the execution of which, in his opinion, would plunge the fiscal concerns of the country into “chaos.”
On September 18th Jackson caused to be read to the assembled Cabinet a paper, setting forth why the deposits should be removed, and declaring that he was firmly resolved upon that step as necessary to preserve the morals of the people, the freedom of the press, and the purity of the elective franchise. He announced the measure to be his own;
