Nicholas Biddle Biography

(born Jan. 8, 1786, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Feb. 27, 1844, Philadelphia) U.S. author, financier, and lawyer. He served as secretary to Pres. James Monroe (1806–07), then minister to England, and, afterward, while practicing law in the U.S., he wrote History of the Expedition of Captains Lewis and Clark (1814) from the explorers' notes. In 1823 Monroe appointed him president of the Second Bank of the United States. He developed the bank into the first effective U.S. central bank, sponsoring policies that curbed credit, regulated the money supply, and safeguarded government deposits. In 1832 the bank came under attack from Pres. Andrew Jackson, who managed to terminate its national charter in 1836. Biddle later became president of the bank under a Pennsylvania state charter. The Federal Reserve System was later established as the country's central bank.

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