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The Bank was dead. Its power was gone and not much could be done. Biddle had spoken of a possible recharter but branches of the Bank had already been sold and Biddle was forced into accepting defeat[101]. Biddle sought to have the main branch in Philadelphia chartered by Pennsylvania and in 1836, the state legislature issued such a charter but it wound up costing the Bank much more than anticipated[102]. Biddle, continued to believe that the Bank was a reputable and respectable institution which was needlessly killed by Jackson, a matter that has since been left for history to decide. In the second of two letters addressed to John Quincy Adams dated November 10, 1836, Biddle said that until the government disturbed the banking system, it was just as good as any other commercial country[103]. Furthermore, according to Biddle, for every American bank that failed fifteen years prior to the Bank of the United States, at least ten English banks had met their demise[104].
Jackson's failing health precluded him from seeking a third term. After his term expired in 1837, his chosen successor, Martin Van Buren became President. Jackson retired to his home in Tennessee, the Hermitage. He left office just as he had entered it, a veteran of war. The soldier within him never died, it simply took on a different form. Shortly after Van Buren took office, Jackson recalled his only two missed opportunities as not being able to "shoot Henry Clay or hang John C. Calhoun.[105]"
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