into existence a concentrated moneyed power, hostile to the spirit and
threatening the permanency of our republican institutions.

Local banks have been employed for the deposit and distribution of
the revenue at all times partially and on three different occasions
exclusively: First, anterior to the establishment of the first Bank of
the United States; secondly, in the interval between the termination of
that institution and the charter of its successor; and thirdly, during
the limited period which has now so abruptly closed. The connection thus
repeatedly attempted proved unsatisfactory on each successive occasion,
notwithstanding the various measures which were adopted to facilitate
or insure its success. On the last occasion, in the year 1833, the
employment of the State banks was guarded especially, in every way which
experience and caution could suggest. Personal security was required for
the safe-keeping and prompt payment of the moneys to be received, and
full returns of their condition were from time to time to be made by the
depositories. In the first stages the measure was eminently successful,
notwithstanding the violent opposition of the Bank of the United States
and the unceasing efforts made to overthrow it. The selected banks
performed with fidelity and without any embarrassment to themselves or
to the community their engagements to the Government, and the system
promised to be permanently useful; but when it became necessary, under
the act of June, 1836, to withdraw from them the public money for the
purpose of placing it in additional institutions or of transferring it
to the States, they found it in many cases inconvenient to comply with
the demands of the Treasury, and numerous and pressing applications were
made for indulgence or relief. As the installments under the deposit law
became payable their own embarrassments and the necessity under which
they lay of curtailing their discounts and calling in their debts
increased the general distress and contributed, with other causes, to