Why did Henry Clay feel the national bank was a good thing?

Question

Why did henry clay think it was a good idea?

Answer 1

During his early House service, he strongly opposed the creation of a National Bank, in part because of his personal ownership in several small banks in his hometown of Lexington. This is ironic, given his strong support for the Second National Bank when he was seeking the presidency.

Second Bank of the United States

In September, 1833, Secretary of the Treasury Roger B. Taney transferred the government's Pennsylvania deposits in the Second Bank of the United States to the Bank of Girard in Philadelphia. This was the successor bank to the Bank of Stephen Girard. Stephen Girard had purchased the assets of the First Bank of the United States when its charter was not renewed in 1811. He then named his new bank the Bank of Stephen Girard. He became a major financier of the War of 1812, including most of the war loan of 1813. He was the original organizer and a major shareholder of the Second Bank. He died in 1841.

The Second Bank of the United States soon began to lose money. Nicholas Biddle, desperate to save his bank, called in (demanded payment on) all of his loans and closed the bank to new loans. This angered many of the bank's clients, causing them to pressure Biddle to re-adopt its previous loan policy.

Some anti-Jacksonians converted their outrage into political action. Under guidance from Webster and Clay, in 1834 they formed the Whig party.[1] If the Whigs and anti-Jackson National Republicans could gain enough votes in Congress in the 1836 election to override a second Jackson veto, they could extend the bank's charter. They did not get enough new members to override a veto. Congress did not send another bank charter extension bill to Jackson.

The Second Bank of the United States was left with little money and, in 1836, its charter expired and it turned into an ordinary bank in Philadelphia. Five years later, the former Second Bank of the United States went bankrupt.