(1786-1844) US financier and public figure. An expert in international commerce, he was appointed a director of the Bank of the United States by President James Monroe 1819 and became president of the bank 1822. An extreme fiscal conservative, Biddle became the focus of Andrew Jackson's campaigns against the power of the bank in 1828 and 1832. After the withdrawal of the bank's federal charter 1836, he remained its president under a state charter.
Born in Philadelphia, Biddle was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar 1809 and elected to the state legislature 1814.