Andrew Johnson vs Andrew Jackson: 19th Century Common Sense

[prime]

The Diversity Cynic:

He believed that placing power over whites in the hands of the formerly enslaved would create an intolerable situation.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andrew-Johnson/The-presidency

The Supply-Sider:

As the election of 1832 approached, Jackson's opponents hoped to embarrass him by posing a new dilemma. The charter of the Bank of the United States was due to expire in 1836.

In the summer of 1832, Jackson's opponents rushed through Congress a bill to recharter the bank, thus forcing Jackson either to sign the measure and alienate many of his supporters or to veto it and appear to be a foe of sound banking.

The veto of the bill to recharter the bank was the prelude to a conflict over financial policy that continued through Jackson's second term, which he nevertheless won easily. Efforts to persuade Congress to enact legislation limiting the circulation of bank notes failed, but there was one critical point at which Jackson was free to apply his theories. Nearly all purchasers of public lands paid with bank notes, many of which had to be discounted because of doubts as to the continuing solvency of the banks that issued them. Partly to protect federal revenues against loss and partly to advance his concept of a sound currency, Jackson issued the Specie Circular in July 1836, requiring payment in gold or silver for all public lands. This measure created a demand for specie that many of the banks could not meet; banks began to fail, and the effect of bank failures in the West spread to the East. By the spring of 1837 the entire country was gripped by a financial panic.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andrew-Jackson/Jacksonian-Democracy