The 1837 U.S. financial crisis was the Panic of 1837. It began during President Martin Van Buren's presidency, after years of land speculation, easy credit, and unstable banking. Andrew Jackson's opposition to the Second Bank of the United States and his 1836 Specie Circular helped tighten credit by requiring payment for federal land in gold or silver.
The crisis became severe in May 1837 when New York banks suspended specie payments. Banks could no longer reliably exchange paper notes for precious metal, and the resulting loss of confidence spread through the United States. Banks failed, businesses closed, construction slowed, and unemployment increased.
The panic is often confused with the Panic of 1819, an earlier postwar banking crisis, or the Panic of 1857, which followed a different combination of railroad speculation and financial failures. The Panic of 1837 produced a long depression that lasted into the early 1840s and strongly shaped Van Buren's political reputation.