The 1837 U.S. financial crisis was called the Panic of 1837.
The panic began in May 1837 when banks in New York suspended the conversion of paper notes into gold and silver. Bank failures, falling cotton prices, collapsing land values, and a contraction of credit followed. The United States entered a long depression, with high unemployment and business failures continuing for several years.
Several policies contributed to the fragile financial environment. President Andrew Jackson's Bank War had weakened the role of the Second Bank of the United States, while the Specie Circular required payment for many federal land purchases in gold or silver. Large flows of money from British investors had also supported American borrowing; when British conditions changed, credit to the United States tightened.
The crisis is sometimes confused with the Panic of 1819 or the later Panic of 1857. Unlike a modern one-day stock-market crash, the Panic of 1837 was a broad banking and credit crisis. Its effects reached beyond Wall Street into land markets, trade, employment, and state-government finances.