panic of 1837
- in 1836, Jackson issued the "specie circular" which provided that in payment for public lands the government would only accept gold or silver coins or currency securely backed by gold or silver
- This produced a financial panic that began in the first months of Van Buren's presidency
- Hundreds of banks and businesses filed and unemployment grew
- the distribution of the Treasury surplus helped cause the crash which had been a Whig measure
- Jackson's specie circular had started a run on the banks as land buyers rushed to trade in their bank notes for specie
- Crop failures also contributed to the panic
- Van Buren administration did little to fight the depression. They borrowed money to pay government debts and made things even worse
- He created "sub-treasuries": government would place its funds in an independent treasure at Washing ton and in other cities