ANDREW JACKSON 301 tion and laws, but in derogation of both." Jack son protested against the resolution, but the senate refused to receive his protest. Many of his ap pointments were rejected by the senate, especially those of the directors of the bank, and of Taney as secretary of the treasury. An attempt was made to curtail the president s appointing power. On the other hand, many of the president s friends declaimed against the senate as an aristocratic insti tution, which ought to be abolished. Benton was Jackson s most powerful and steadfast ally in the senate. Benton was determined that the resolution of censure should be expunged from the records of the senate, and his motion continued to be the subject of acrimonious debate for two years. The contest was carried into the state elections, and some senators resigned in consequence of instructions received from their state legislatures. At length, on January 16, 1837, a few weeks before Jackson s retirement from office, Benton s persistency triumphed, and the resolution of censure was ex punged. Meanwhile the consequence of the violent method with which the finances had been handled were rapidly developing. Many state banks, in cluding not a few of the "wildcat" species, had been formed, to supply the paper currency that was supposed to be needed. The abundance of paper, together with the rapid westward movement of population, caused reckless speculation and an in-
