presidential dollars MS and from Annual Dollar Set
2008 P MARTIN VAN BUREN

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Van Buren served only one term as president, a period marked by few major events. A depression began during his presidency that lasted from 1837-1845.

Van Buren took office in March of 1837 and immediately faced significant challenges. The most significant of these was a financial panic, begun during Jackson’s second term and triggered by the transfer of federal funds from the Bank of the United States to state banks. In the aftermath, hundreds of banks and businesses failed and thousands of people lost their land, making it the worst financial crisis in the nation’s history up to that point. Van Buren pointed the finger primarily at the Bank of the United States and proposed that federal funds instead be transferred to an independent treasury. A measure establishing this treasury would eventually pass years later, but in the interim Van Buren’s political opponents sought to blame him for the crisis.