 Causes: › “Get rich quick” with “land-office business” › Jacksonian Finance  Failure in wheat crops › British Bank Failure  “Pet Banks”  Effects › Transportation advancements › Bank failures › Price decrease › Unemployment

Political cartoon demonstrating the unemployment effects of the Panic of 1837

 Whigs › New major political party  Martin Van Buren › Divorce Bill

 Divorce government from banking  Not popular with even Van Buren’s own party (Democrats)  Whigs hated this bill  Led to the ideas of the Independent Treasury Bill

 Passed in 1840 › Whigs repealed it later  Established independent treasury › Government put large sums of money into banks in big cities

 Western expanders wanting quick money was the main cause of the Panic of  Van Buren’s idea of “divorcing” the government from the banks led to the Independent Treasury Bill.

 Democratic ideals spreading  Jackson removed National Bank and created Specie Circular › Beyond his purpose  Both caused the Panic of 1837, which led to the Independent Treasury Bill