Sen. Daniel Webster Writes the Cashier of the Bank of the US Over a Conflict With Sen. John Tyler Over the Bank: Sen. John Tyler, an Ally of President Jackson, Seeks to Embarrass the Bank of the United States to Prevent Its Recharter

But Sen. Daniel Webster, a Friend of the Bank, Advises the Bank There Was No Easy Way to Avoid a Senate Request for Its Books and Records

“He has a right to summon you,” writes Webster, “and perhaps also would have a right to what are called a ducus tecum - that is an order to bring in the books, if he should show the necessity… for the parties of proving what they contain…”

John Tyler was a foe of the Bank of the United States, and as president would veto two bills to reestablish the Bank. From 1827-1836, he was a U.S. Senator. He was an ally of President Andrew Jackson, who in 1832 would veto a bill to recharter the Bank.

In 1831, Samuel Frothingham was the Cashier of the Bank of the United States. Tyler looked to cause as much trouble for the Bank as he could, and asked Frothingham for Bank records, likely a fishing expedition to find records that might indicate some impropriety or carelessness on the part of the Bank. Frothingham asked Sen. Daniel Webster, a friend to the Bank, if he needed to comply with Tyler’s request. Webster gave Frothingham advice indicating the futility of refusing Tyler’s request.

Autograph letter signed, Washington, January 20, 1831, a year after his famous debate against Robert Hayne, to Samuel Frothingham, Cashier of the Bank of the United States. “I have received your letter of the 14th. You are not obliged to attend to Mr. Tyler’s request, yet such things are common & usually done, when there exists no particular objection. He has a right to summon you; and perhaps also would have a right to what are called a ducus tecum - that is an order to bring in the books, if he should show the necessity… for the parties of proving what they contain. To prevent this trouble, it is usual, on motion, to prepare the papers. If it requires clerical labor, the party must pay for it.”

The Bank controversy was a major event in Antebellum America. The Bank lost its charter the next year, and the attention of the country turned to Manifest Destiny and the crises that preceded the Civil War.