The Bank of the United States Signature book, compiled from 1834-1836, holds signatures of the bank's customers from New York and elsewhere. The first page is dated July 21, 1834, but internal evidence indicates later dates in 1835 and 1836. The volume contains company and personal autographs, both directly entered into the volume and pasted in on small fragments of paper. The names, reflect the diversity of the population in New York -- Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, French, and English. A few women signed the book. Many entries include places of residence (e.g. Missouri, Florida, Charleston, Philadelphia) or additional signatures of related individuals or companies.
A first attempt to create a national bank for the United States failed in 1811, but debt accrued from the War of 1812 compelled Congress to charter a second Bank of the United States. At the time of the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1828, the bank was operating successfully, but the President and several of his political allies believed that such a large private institution would necessarily be vulnerable to corrupting influences. Jackson and the bank's director, Nicholas Biddle, clashed several times throughout the early 1830s, and Jackson refused to re-charter the institution in 1832. That, coupled with the withdrawal of federal funds from its coffers, effectively destroyed the Bank, and it closed in 1836.
The headquarters of the Second Bank of United States was in Philadelphia. This volume belonged to the New York branch.
