Andrew Jackson's Financial Crisis

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On September 3, 1783 the American Revolution came to an end leaving America to be an independent nation. However, this war, as with any war was very expensive; America starting off with $43 million in debt ("TreasuryDirect KIDS - The History of U.S. Public Debt - The Beginning of U.S. Debt"). But, the debt doesn’t stop here, it continues to grow with the nation as the government provided more services for civilians. This debt caused a severe depression that spurred Shays’ Rebellion. When new farmers couldn’t afford to pay high taxes, local sheriffs seized farms and throw farmers in prison ("Shays ' Rebellion"). Massachusetts could have prevented this by passing pro-debtor laws, and printed more paper money for more forgiving debt, but they …show more content…
After Jackson left office in 1837, a financial crisis followed, namely the Panic of 1837. This was a financial crisis that went on until around 1845. Partly caused by Andrew Jackson’s fear of banks created a chain reaction. Jackson uses executive power in 1833 to basically shutdown the Second Bank of the U.S. by remove all federal funds and placing it in smaller state banks across the nation known as pet banks ("Andrew Jackson Shuts Down Second Bank of the U.S."). But, his hatred for banks didn’t stop there, he also wanted to rid the country of paper currency replacing it entirely with species, gold, and silver. Inflation grew dramatically as bank notes became worthless because unregulated state banks overextended credit. Then Jacksons final order as president was the Specie Circular, in U.S. history, an executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson requiring that payment for the purchase of public lands be made exclusively in gold or silver” ("Specie Circular"). Eventually this was repealed by Congress on May 21, 1838 …show more content…
The rift between the two movements became amplified after America won the Mexican war and raised the question whether the new land would allow or prohibit slavery. The Compromise of 1850 was used to keep both sides at bay by giving the North and South different benefits just like the Missouri Compromise did in 1820. The North got California as a free state, slave trade banned in Washington D.C., and Texas loses boundary. On the flip side, the South received no slavery restrictions in Utah or New Mexico, slaveholding in Washington D.C., the fugitive slave law, also $10 million to Texas. The best part about this deal for the South was the fugitive slave act, which required all escaped slaves to be returned to their master, even in free states. If slavery wasn’t already unconstitutional enough, now no runaway slave was safe. Tension kept building between the two sides as the short term compromise would lose its effect. For example, “the Kansas-Nebraska Act was an 1854 bill that mandated “popular sovereignty”–allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders” (History.com, "Kansas-Nebraska Act"). Passing this bill in turn threw the Missouri Compromise out the water as Kansas and Nebraska

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