Books and Manuscripts

Biddle, Charles
Partially-Printed Document, signed
Philadelphia, October 1, 1787. One sheet, 6 1/2 x 8 in. (165 x 203 mm). Partially-printed Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania pay order (No. 249), signed by Charles Biddle as Vice-President, ordering Treasurer David Rittenhouse to pay Revolutionary War veteran Edward Tate, "Invalid, or Order, the Sum of one pound ten shillings being due to him for one Quarter's Pension according to the Comptroller General's report, and an Act of Assembly dated the twenty-second Day of September, 1785."; manuscript on verso, "Octr 1787". Lightly toned along edges.

Together with:

Biddle, Nicholas
Autograph Letter, signed
Phil(adelphi)a, Feb(ruar)y 5, 1831. One sheet, 9 13/16 x 8 in. (249 x 203 mm). One-page autograph letter, signed by Nicholas Biddle as President of the Second Bank of the United States, to Maryland Senator Samuel Smith, Chairman of the Committee on Finance, regarding the results of a recent resolution introduced by Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton to not renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States: "You are a real prophet. The first thing that occurred to me on seeing the vote, was that 23 was exactly the number you calculated upon. If the question comes up, I should hope for Mr. (John) Forsyth & Mr (Charles E.) Dudley, and rely on Mr (Mahlon) Dickerson & Mr (Isaac D.) Barnard. You know that Mr. (William R.) King of Alabama voted for the charter in the H. of Reps. Accept my thanks for your attention in this matter..." Creasing from old folds.

By early 1831, the Bank War was beginning to heat up. Nicholas Biddle, the President of the Bank of the United States writes to the chair of the Senate's finance committee regarding a failed February 2 resolution introduced by Jacksonian Senator from Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton, to not renew the Bank's charter. Although the resolution failed in a vote of 23-20, it was one of the first salvos against the Bank, whose continued existence would serve as a major flashpoint in American politics of the time and would be used by Andrew Jackson during his successful reelection in 1832.

Together with:

Biddle, Nicholas
Letter, signed
(Philadelphia): Bank of the United States, Nov(embe)r. 17, 1835. One sheet, 10 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. (263 x 222 mm). Two-page manuscript letter in a secretarial hand, signed by Nicholas Biddle as President of the Second Bank of the United States, to John Cumming, President of the Savannah, Georgia branch of the Bank of the United States, declining the submission of a proposal by Cumming for the Bank of Augusta to purchase debt at the Savannah branch. Creasing from old folds, two repairs along vertical folds on recto.