“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that
you have used the funds of
the bank to speculate in breadstuffs of the country.
When you won, you divided the profits among yourselves, and when you lost, you
charged it to
the bank.
You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank
and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families.
That may be true, but
that is your sin!
Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families,
and that would be my sin!
You are a den of vipers and thieves.
I intend to rout
you out and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out.” … President Andrew
Jackson: (Spoken to a delegation of bankers requesting the extension of the 1832
Bank Renewal Act).