Biddle, Nicholas, American financier

Biddle, Nicholas, 1786–1844, American financier, b. Philadelphia. After holding important posts in the American legations in France and England, he returned to the United States in 1807 and became one of the leading lights of Port-Folio, a literary magazine, which he edited after 1812. He was also commissioned to write the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition, but turned over the job to Paul Allen, a Philadelphia journalist, when he was elected (1810) to the state house of representatives, where he served a single term. In 1819, President Monroe appointed him one of the government directors of the Bank of the United States Bank of the United States, name for two national banks established by the U.S. Congress to serve as government fiscal agents and as depositories for federal funds; the first bank was in existence from 1791 to 1811 and the second from 1816 to 1836.
..... Click the link for more information. . He became its president in 1823, and his administration illustrated his belief in the necessity of a central banking institution to stabilize the currency and curb the inflationary tendencies of the era. He became the leading target of the Jacksonians in their war against the bank. After the bank failed of recharter, Biddle operated it as a private bank until it collapsed (1841) as an aftermath of the Panic of 1837. He was charged with fraud but was subsequently acquitted. Biddle's public correspondence dealing with national affairs (1817–44) was edited by Reginald McGrane (1919).

Bibliography

See biography by T. P. Govan (1959); study by G. R. Taylor (1949); B. Hammond, Banks and Politics in America (1957, repr. 1967); R. V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War (1967).

Biddle, Nicholas, American naval officer

Biddle, Nicholas, 1750–78, American naval officer, b. Philadelphia. Biddle left the British navy in 1773. In the American Revolution he became captain in the patriot navy and daringly raided British shipping off the American coast. After receiving command (1777) of the ship Randolph, Biddle was killed and his ship destroyed in an encounter (1778) with the British warship Yarmouth off the coast of Barbados.

Biddle, Nicholas

Nicholas Biddle

(credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(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.

Biddle, Nicholas (1786–1844) writer, banker, statesman; born in Philadelphia. A brilliant student and writer, he entered the University of Pennsylvania at age 10; by age 18, he was serving as secretary to the U.S. Minister to France. He returned to the U.S.A. in 1807 and became a lawyer. He wrote part of the History of the Expedition of Captains Lewis and Clark (1810–12) but gave the project away when he was elected to the state legislature. Always interested in literature, he became editor of Port Folio (1812), the leading literary journal at that time. Drawn to banking by his friend, James Monroe, and to the nation's need during the War of 1812, he eventually became president of the Bank of the United States (1822–36). His attempt to re-charter the Bank failed in the face of vigorous opposition from President Andrew Jackson. In retirement, he made his country home on the Delaware River, "Andalusia," into a center of refined intellectual life.

Biddle, Nicholas (1750–78) naval officer; born in Philadelphia. One of the first five captains commissioned by Congress (1775), he participated in the capture of New Providence Island, Bahamas (1776) and captured several British ships before his death in the explosion of his ship, the USS Randolph.