Bank of the United States of America signed by Nicholas Biddle - 1830 dated Autograph Stock Certificate

Early stock for the Bank of the United States signed by N. Biddle. Rare! Measures 11.75" wide x 7.5" tall.

Nicholas Biddle (January 8, 1786 – February 27, 1844), a prominent 19th-century American financier and politician, served as the third and final president of the Second Bank of the United States. A child prodigy who graduated from Princeton at the tender age of 15, Biddle brought an intellectual and sophisticated approach to American finance. Under his leadership, the Bank acted as an early version of a central bank, stabilizing the national currency and regulating the credit issued by smaller state banks. Biddle was a staunch advocate for a strong federal role in the economy, believing that a centralized financial institution was crucial for the young nation’s industrial growth and stability.

However, Biddle is most famously remembered for his high-stakes confrontation with President Andrew Jackson, known as the Bank War. Jackson viewed the Bank as an unconstitutional monopoly that favored the urban elite at the expense of the “common man.” When Biddle, encouraged by political allies like Henry Clay, applied for an early recharter of the Bank in 1832, Jackson responded with a stinging veto. The ensuing political battle was fierce. Biddle restricted credit to trigger a minor economic downturn in an attempt to prove the Bank’s necessity, but the move backfired and alienated the public. Ultimately, the Bank’s charter expired in 1836, leading to Biddle’s retirement from public life and a period of significant volatility in the American banking system.