# Andrew Jackson — "to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful" > [!quote] "In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society — the farmers, mechanics, and laborers — who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government." > — Andrew Jackson, Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States, July 10, 1832 ## Context Jackson's veto of the [[Second Bank of the United States]], the defining act of his presidency. The Bank, he argued, was a government-chartered engine for concentrating wealth in a privileged few. The passage is not about a tax rate, but it states the foundational principle of American fiscal fairness: government must not structure its laws — including its tax laws — to favor the already-rich. ## Why this matters The philosophical headwater of the tax-fairness tradition. Jackson frames the test that runs through every later argument over progressive taxation: does the law confer "artificial distinctions" and "exclusive privileges" that "make the rich richer," or does it treat every citizen equally? When the modern fight is over loopholes, carried interest, and tax cuts skewed to the top, it is Jackson's standard being invoked — the "humble members of society" who cannot buy "like favors" have "a right to complain of the injustice of their Government." It is the populist root that both progressive taxation and its [[Plutocracy]] critique grow from. ## Verification - **Primary source:** [Avalon Project (Yale Law School), Jackson's Bank Veto Message, July 10, 1832](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/ajveto01.asp); [Miller Center transcript](https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/july-10-1832-bank-veto). - **Status:** Verbatim from the veto message. Undisputed. ## Related quotes - [[Abraham Lincoln - labor is the superior of capital]] — the moral premise that labor, not accumulated wealth, deserves the higher consideration. - [[Theodore Roosevelt - a graduated income tax on big fortunes]] — Jackson's anti-privilege principle turned into a specific tax program. - Featured in [[Presidents on Tax Fairness]].