Answer: The Second Bank of the United States.

This bank, chartered for 20 years, got its start under William Jones (1816-1819), found stability under Langdon Cheves (1819-1822), then made its mark on history under Nicholas Biddle (1822-1836).  The bank prospered under Biddle’s reign, but came under fire by state bankers who criticized the bank’s power and seeming bias towards Eastern commercial ventures and upper-class interests.  President Andrew Jackson also came to believe the bank was corrupt, and when Biddle, persuaded by Jackson’s political opponent Henry Clay, sought to renew the bank’s charter in 1832, Jackson refused.  The bank’s operations ended in 1836.

HSP holds three manuscript collections pertaining to the Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania (1390A, 1390B, and 1390C), which stemmed from the Second Bank of the United States.  HSP also has a sizable collection of records from the Bank of North America (#1543), which was the first chartered bank in the United States, bonded by the Second Continental Congress in 1781.