Bell Ringer! Imagine you are the family breadwinner, you have a spouse and four children You make $1,500 a month Write your budget for the month: – Rent – House expenses (water, electric) – Car – Phone – Food – Clothing – Health Care – Transportation – Fun – Additional expenses?

OH NO!! Economic depression hits and you lose your job! Luckily, you have $1,000 in savings, rewrite your budget with only the necessities How does an economic depression affect American families?

Van Buren and Hard Times Jacksons policies lead to economic collapse – State banks were printing too much money and this led to INFLATION = value of money decreases

Panic of 1837 – about 600 banks close and many Americans lose their jobs Van Buren tried to deal with issues by cutting back on public spending Believed in laissez-faire economics

New Politics Mudslinging – use of insults to attack an opponent Democrats – supported mostly by agrarian farmers, against tariffs, limited govt Whigs – supported mostly by industrializing North, wanted to create new bank, tariffs, internal improvement programs

Crash Course! e5O8