Specie Circular

(noun)

Also known as the Coinage Act; an executive order issued by U.S. President Andrew Jackson in 1836 and carried out by succeeding President Martin Van Buren.

Related Terms

  • pet banks
  • Second Bank of the United States

Examples of Specie Circular in the following topics:

  • Bankers and Lawyers

    • In an effort to take control of the unstable economy, Jackson issued a Specie Circular in 1836 requiring all purchases of federal lands to be paid in metal coin rather than paper money.
  • The Panic of 1837

    • On May 10, 1837, every bank in New York City began to accept payment only in specie ("hard money" usually in the form of gold and silver coinage), forcing a dramatic, deflationary backlash.
    • The U.S. government borrowed heavily to finance the War of 1812, which caused tremendous strain on the banks' reserves of specie (gold and silver), leading to a suspension of specie payments in 1814.
    • During his term, Jackson created the Specie Circular by executive order and refused to renew the charter of Second Bank of the United States, leading government funds to be withdrawn from the bank.
    • Jackson was motivated by the concern that the government was selling land for state bank notes of questionable value and that the bank was issuing excessive paper money unbacked by specie reserves.
  • The Bank War and Economic Boom

    • In an effort to take control of the unstable economy, Jackson issued the Specie Circular in 1836.
  • Economic Retaliation and Reaction to the Townshend Acts

    • Upon receipt of the Massachusetts Circular Letter, other colonies followed suit and sent their own petitions to the king.
    • In April, 1768, he sent a letter to the colonial governors in America, instructing them to dissolve the colonial assemblies if they responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter.
    • He also sent a letter to Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard, instructing him to have the Massachusetts House rescind the Circular Letter.
  • The Panic of 1819

    • The government had borrowed heavily to finance the War of 1812, which caused tremendous strain on the banks' reserves of specie, “hard money” usually in the form of gold and silver coins.
    • During the war, the Bank of the United States had suspended payments in specie.
    • The newly chartered banks also adopted this practice, issuing banknotes in excess of the amount of specie in their vaults.
    • If large numbers of people, or banks that had loaned money to other banks, began to demand specie payments, the banking system would collapse, because there was no longer enough specie to support the amount of paper money the banks had put into circulation.
    • He acquiesced in the suspension of specie payments to bank depositors, setting a precedent for the Panics of 1837 & 1857.
  • Economic Booms and Busts

    • The U.S. government borrowed heavily to finance the War of 1812, which caused tremendous strain on the banks' reserves of specie (gold and silver) leading to a suspension of specie payments in 1814.
    • In May 1837, banks began to accept payment only in specie, forcing a dramatic, deflationary backlash.
  • The Townshend Acts

    • In Massachusetts in 1768, Samuel Adams wrote a letter that became known as the Massachusetts Circular.
    • The Massachusetts Circular got Parliament’s attention, and in 1768, Lord Hillsborough sent four thousand British troops to Boston to deal with the unrest and put down any potential rebellion there.
  • Enduring Cultures

    • Over the course of thousands of years, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species.
    • These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide.
    • A diffusion by human agents has been put forward to explain the pre-Columbian presence in Oceania of several cultivated plant species native to South America, such as the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) or sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).
  • Native Americans in the 1490's

    • Such mounds were usually square, rectangular, or occasionally circular.
  • Woodland Burial Mounds and Chiefdoms

    • Typical houses were circular and ranged from 15 to 45 feet in diameter, and their walls were made of paired posts that tilted outward and joined with other pieces of wood to form a cone-shaped roof.
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