Final answer:
President Andrew Jackson successfully killed the Second Bank of the United States by vetoing its recharter in 1832 and weakening it through the removal of federal funds, with its charter eventually expiring in 1836.
Step-by-step explanation:
Who Successfully Killed the Second Bank of the United States?
The individual most responsible for the demise of the Second Bank of the United States was President Andrew Jackson. A strong opponent of the bank, President Jackson viewed it as an institution that catered to the wealthy elite and wielded too much power over the nation's economy. In the 1820s and 1830s, there was significant opposition to the bank, not just from Jackson but also from those who saw it as overly powerful and unrepresentative of the democratic ethos of the nation.
Jackson's stand against the bank culminated in what was known as the Bank War. When Congress passed a bill to recharter the bank in 1832, Jackson vetoed it, effectively ensuring that the bank would have to cease operations once its charter expired in 1836. Additionally, Jackson took measures to weaken the bank by withdrawing federal funds and placing them in various state banks, which were referred to as "pet banks." His actions exacerbated the conflict with the bank's director, Nicholas Biddle, who retaliated by tightening credit, leading to a financial crisis that only heightened public mistrust of the bank.
Ultimately, Jackson's actions and the bank's own unpopular policies led to its failure. When its charter expired in 1836, the Second Bank of the United States was not renewed, and it ceased to operate as a national institution, marking the end of national banks for several decades until the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913.