Identifier: historyofuniteds07morr (find matches)
Title: A history of the United States of America; its people and its institutions
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Morris, Charles, 1833-1922
Subjects:
Publisher: Philadelphia and London, J. B. Lippincott company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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emocracy, was elected United States senator 308 THIRTY YEARS OF PEACE AND PROGRESS. his predecessor made themselves felt. The overthrow ofthe United States Bank w^as followed by the establishment of a host of State banks, many ofthem without capital, and issuingnotes which they were very unlikelyto redeem. These became knownas wild-cat banks. Some of theseState banks whose directors were inharmony with Jacksons views re-ceived deposits of governmentmoney. This money, as alreadysaid, soon made its way into thehands of borrowers and gave rise toa high tide of speculation. Land atfirst, and afterward almost every-thing, were speculated in, and paid for largely in the notesof the wild-cat banks.* The Panic of 1837.—Much of the land bought was pur-chased from the government. When Jackson found that itwas being paid for largely in notes that soon became worth-less, an order was issued to the government agents to acceptonly gold in payment for pubhc lands. This order precipi-tated a panic.
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Martin Van Buren. in 1821 and governor of New York in 1828. He was Secretary of Stateduring Jacksons first term and Vice-President during his second. Hewas defeated for re-election to the Presidency in 1840 and in 1848. Hedied in 1862. ^ Men grew so eager in land speculation that they purchased freelyof land they never had seen and never were likely to see. Town lotswere bought at high prices in the far backwoods, and the sites of someof the Western cities—which existed only on paper—were six feetunder water. In Dickenss story of Martin Chnzzlewit he gives anamusing description of one of these paper cities, dignified with thename of Eden. VAN BURENS ADMINISTRATION. 309 It began in 1837, shortly after Van Buren took his seat,in the failure of a large New Orleans business house. Otherfailures quickly followed. Land was hastily offered for sale,but no one would buy it. Prices fell rapidly. In ten daysa hundred New York merchants found their business ruined.Within two months the failu

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