The Bank War and the Partisan Press

“The major contribution of [this book] shows how the partisan press in the towns and cities across this vast land were both drawn into the Bank War and, in turn, propelled it by seeking to shape that conflict to partisan advantage. . . . The most striking findings in this text indicate not only that the American state was a player in the nation’s history, but also that even as long ago as the 1830s, the US government and major corporations elided the line between honest debating and corrupt influence peddling.”—Journal of Southern History

"A concise and timely account of the battle over the Second Bank of the United States during the presidency of Andrew Jackson."—Wall Street Journal

"Provides useful information for students of economic history or American political development. Campbell’s thesis is worth considering as one factor in a complicated discussion."—Choice

“This welcome and highly readable book breathes new fire into Jackson’s dramatic Bank War of the 1830s. It successfully links this epoch-turning event with a modern awareness of the power of government institutions, the functioning of the press, and a measured awareness of how the nation’s financial and economic system actually worked. Through the words and actions of key players, notably Nicholas Biddle and Amos Kendall, it demonstrates that the key disputes were not over the powers of ‘the state,’ but whom should benefit from their exercise.”—Donald Ratcliffe, author of The One-Party Presidential Contest: Adams, Jackson, and 1824’s Five-Horse Race

“A fresh assessment of Andrew Jackson’s famous Bank War has been long overdue. Deftly interweaving the threads of party politics, finance, journalism, and communications, Stephen Campbell’s The Bank War and the Partisan Press offers a revealing new take on this pivotal yet dimly understood episode. Observers of American government and banking, and of the interconnections between the two, will find this book essential reading.”—Daniel Feller, professor of history and director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson, University of Tennessee

“Campbell breathes new life into the history of the Bank War by examining how the burgeoning partisan press, the US Postal Service, and the wider network of internal improvements nationalized this conflict. With this new spin on an old topic, the battle between Nicholas Biddle and Andrew Jackson over the fate of the Bank of the United States offers much insight into how critical American institutions worked in the 1830s and how they led to the formation of a new political order.”—Sean Patrick Adams, professor of history, University of Florida