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354 failed to stand by him. In the House of Representatives the Committee of Ways and Means made a report, affirming, what was well known, that the constitutionality of the bank had been recognized by the Supreme Court, that it was a useful institution, and that the establishment of a bank such as that suggested in the message would be a dangerous experiment. A similar report was made in the Senate. In the House, resolutions against rechartering the bank, and calling for a comprehensive report upon its doings, were defeated by considerable majorities. Bank stock went up again.

In his second message, in December, 1830, President Jackson said that nothing had occurred “to lessen in any degree the dangers” which many citizens apprehended from the United States Bank as actually organized. He then suggested the organization of “a bank, with the necessary officers, as a branch of the Treasury Department.” Congress did not take action on the matter, but Benton made his first attack in the Senate on the United States Bank, not to produce any immediate effect in Congress, but to stir up the people.

In his third message, in December, 1831, President Jackson simply said that on previous occasions he had performed his duty of bringing the bank question to the attention of the people, and that there he would “for the present” leave it. At the same time the Secretary of the Treasury, McLane, submitted in his report to Congress an