The Panic of 1837 followed President Andrew Jackson’s Specie Circular and the collapse of U.S. land speculation.
The Specie Circular, issued in 1836, required payment for many federal lands in gold or silver rather than banknotes. The measure reduced demand for land bought with credit and contributed to pressure on banks and borrowers.
The crisis erupted in 1837 after a speculative boom, falling cotton prices, banking instability, and reduced British investment. Banks suspended specie payments, businesses failed, and unemployment rose across the United States.
The panic produced a long depression that lasted into the 1840s. It is distinct from the Panic of 1819, although both were early American crises connected to land prices, credit expansion, and bank failures.