The U.S. financial crisis that began in 1837 after land speculation and a credit contraction was the Panic of 1837.
The crisis emerged after years of rapid economic growth, easy lending, and rising land prices. The United States also faced pressure from falling cotton prices and financial instability in Britain, an important source of American credit. In 1836, President Andrew Jackson’s Specie Circular required payment for federal land in gold or silver, helping reduce the availability of paper credit.
Banks suspended specie payments in 1837, meaning they stopped exchanging banknotes for precious metal on demand. Failures spread, businesses collapsed, and unemployment rose. The depression that followed lasted for several years and affected both the United States and other economies.
The Panic of 1837 is often confused with the Panic of 1819 because both followed speculative booms. The 1837 crisis, however, came later and was closely linked to cotton, land, banking, and the end of the Second Bank era.