Surviving the Scandal

The legal proceedings were complex and are briefly summarized here.  After an initial dismissal of the indictment, the case was appealed. In 1821, the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's decision, ruling that the conspiracy charges were valid common law offenses against the State of Maryland and that the trial could proceed. This appeals court ruling was not a trial of guilt but a procedural decision allowing the prosecution to move forward. Subsequently, the trial was held in Harford County, where James A. Buchanan and James W. McCulloch were tried first and acquitted. Because his alleged co-conspirators had been found not guilty, George Williams was tried separately and was also acquitted, based on the legal principle that he could not be convicted of a conspiracy by himself.

Before closing out the story about the 2nd Bank of the United States, the Baltimore branch cashier James McCulloch and George Williams were featured in a landmark Supreme Court decision in "McCulloch vs the State of Maryland", February term 1819.  When McCulloch issued federal bank notes to George Williams without the Maryland tax, it did not make the Maryland politicians happy. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of McCulloch and the federal government that the State of Maryland could not tax a federal entity establishing critical rights of the federal government along with the statement "the power to tax involves the power to destroy" and the state should not have the power to destroy the federal government. 

So what was the youngest brother, Nathaniel Williams, doing at this time?  While not embroiled in the financial scandal, he was a member of the bank’s Office of Law who was dismissed by the branch president, John Donnel, because “he might feel to act justly against some of his relatives who were delinquent debtors at the office.”  Nathaniel was outraged by the impugning of his reputation at being dismissed from such a prestigious role and publicly addressed the action by printing a “pamphlet” in his defense which was published in the Niles Weekly Register.  Nathaniel claimed he was dismissed due to the pretense of personal enmity, although one has to wonder whether he simply knew too much about the bank’s work and was too much of a risk to continue in the office.  In response to this insult, William Pinkney, one of the most well-known attorneys of his time and a Maryland Senator, gave up his retainer with the bank while at the same time arguing in front of the Supreme Court the case of McCulloch vs Maryland which he won.  Perhaps Pinkney saw the difference between the corruption in the bank and insulting a fine attorney with the important task of establishing limits of state taxation on the federal government.  Ironically, Nathaniel soon became Acting Attorney General for Maryland.