78 REFORM AND DEMOCRACY 



type that Jackson exemplified and impressed 

 upon the nation as a whole. Abounding phys 

 ical vigor, courage, self-confidence, resourceful 

 ness, fervid patriotism, Mosaic morality with 

 a primitive interpretation, a narrow intellec 

 tual horizon these were the characteristics that 

 were predominant. The problems of social life 

 in the simple conditions that generally pre 

 vailed were readily enough solved by a people 

 of this type. Where circumstances called for 

 the settlement of questions of some complexity, 

 such as the growth of the nation brought to the 

 front, the popular feeling was often that of 

 irritability and suspicion toward those who pro 

 fessed to be able to furnish answers on the basis 

 of a scientific knowledge that was beyond the 

 reach of the average man. 



This democratic distrust of the expert played 

 a large part in the conflict between President 

 Jackson and the United States Bank, a conflict 

 that most clearly exhibited the tendencies of the 

 times. The bank was chartered by Congress 

 and had since 1816 served a useful purpose as 

 an agency for the fiscal operations of the treas 

 ury and also for providing a currency by its 

 note issues. Jackson formed the opinion that 

 the bank was a dangerous institution, of a mon- 



