as a campaign document it was a masterpiece. No more powerful stump speech was ever delivered. In ingenious variations of light and color, it exhibited the bank before the eyes of the people as an odious monopoly; a monopoly granted to favored individuals without any fair equivalent; a monopoly that exercised a despotic sway over the business of the country; a monopoly itself controlled by a few persons; a monopoly giving dangerous advantages to foreigners as stockholders; a monopoly the renewal of which would put millions into the pockets of a few men; a monopoly in its very nature unconstitutional, the decision of the Supreme Court notwithstanding; a monopoly mismanaging its business to the detriment of the people, and using its power for corrupt purposes; a monopoly tending to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
This was in substance Jackson's veto message. There was one bitter pill in it intended for Clay's special enjoyment. As to the constitutionality of the bank, Jackson simply repeated the argument which Clay had used in 1811, when opposing the rechartering of the first Bank of the United States. The Supreme Court, Jackson argued, had decided the charter to be constitutional on the ground that the Constitution gave Congress power “to pass all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying these powers [the granted powers] into execution.” Chartering a bank might have been necessary and proper then, but the President was sure
