VOA慢速英語:1837年帶給新總統(tǒng)的是經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)

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From VOA Learning English, welcome to The Making of a Nation — our weekly history program of Americanhistory for people learning American English. I’m SteveEmber.

Last time, we talked about the election of Martin VanBuren as the eighth president of the United States.

Van Buren had served as President Andrew Jackson’ssecretary of state, and later his vice president. Jacksonasked his political party, the Democrats, to nominateVan Buren as their presidential candidate in the 1836election. The Whig party was against him, but theiropposition was divided. Van Buren won the electioneasily.

Jackson stood beside Van Buren as the new president was sworn in at theCapitol building in Washington. Physically, the two men were very different.Jackson was tall, with long white hair that flowed back over his head.Jackson's health had been poor during the last few months he spent in theWhite House. He seemed tired. There was almost no color in his face.

Van Buren was much shorter than Jackson and had much less hair. His eyeswere brighter than those of the old man next to him.

Van Buren Promises Better Times Ahead

In his inaugural speech, Van Buren noted that he was the first American bornafter the revolution to become president of the United States. He was also thefirst president who was not from a British family; his family was Dutch.

Van Buren said he felt he belonged to a later age. He called for more unityamong Democrats of the North and South. He said better times were aheadfor the country.

Martin Van Buren had a poor education as a boy. He went to school only for afew years. His father was a farmer and hotel keeper at a small town in NewYork State. Politicians, including Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, hadsometimes visited the hotel. By listening to them and others, the futurepresident learned about politics.

Eventually, Van Buren studied in a law office and became a lawyer. In the firstyears of his career he defended tenants and renters who were fighting largeplantation owners for their land. As a result, he developed a reputation forhelping the common man. Van Buren became a local official, and then asenator and governor of New York.

When he was 24, he married a young woman he had grown up with. But shedied of tuberculosis after 12 years, leaving him with four sons.

An undated portrait of the eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren (1837-1841). (AP Photo/NYPLPicture Collection)

“And after that, he was known as quite charming among the ladies, as theysaid in those days.”

Historian Joel Silbey is an expert on Martin Van Buren. Mr. Silbey says mostpeople who knew Van Buren liked him. He seemed warm and friendly. He triedto keep his political life and his social life separate. It was not unusual to seehim exchange handshakes, smiles and jokes with men who were his politicalenemies. But, he did not have a national reputation like Andrew Jackson had.

“What he was known for, and what got him into the vice presidency, and thenthe presidency, was that he was Jackson’s right hand man.”

New President Faces Economic Crisis

Van Buren had been president for just a few dayswhen an economic crisis struck the country. The crisishad been building for months. It really began with thedeath of the Bank of the United States more than a yearbefore.

The bank had been so strong that it was able to controlthe economy throughout most of the country. It alsohelped control smaller state banks. It refused to acceptthe notes, or paper money, of these banks, unless thestate banks could exchange the paper for gold or silvermoney.

President Jackson had opposed the Bank of the UnitedStates. He vetoed a bill that would have continued it.After the powerful bank closed, a number of new statebanks opened. All of them produced large amounts ofpaper money — many times the amount they couldexchange for gold or silver. Business speculators usedmuch of this paper money to buy land from thegovernment. These men bought the land, held it for a while, then sold it formore than they paid.

The government soon found itself with millions of dollars of paper money ofquestionable value. To stop these activities, Jackson had ordered only gold orsilver payments for government land. But many banks did not have enoughgold to cover the paper notes.

At the same time, American agriculture was having trouble. In 1835 and 1837,many crops failed. American traders had to import farm products fromEurope. And they had to pay for them in gold or silver.

Bank Decision Leads to Financial Crisis...

In the spring of 1837, just as Martin Van Buren was taking office, the demandon banks for gold and silver grew too heavy. The banks stopped honoring theirpromises to exchange their paper money for gold. They said the suspensionwas just temporary. That it was necessary to stop — for a while — allpayments in gold or silver. The crisis became worse.

Many of the weaker state banks closed. Those that stayed open had almostno money to lend. Businessmen could not pay back money they owed thebanks. And they could not get loans to keep their businesses open. Manyfactories closed. Great numbers of people were out of work. And prices rosehigher and higher. Most people struggled to buy food and other necessities. The price of flour and meat doubled between 1835 and 1837. Even coal, thefuel people used to heat their homes, cost two times as much.

Violence finally broke out at a protest meeting in New York City. Some in thecrowd demanded action against the rich traders. About 1,000 people marchedto a store, forced their way into it, and destroyed large amounts of flour andgrain.

Businessmen blamed the government for the economic depression. Theysaid the biggest reason was a decision former President Jackson made.Jackson’s order required the government to accept only gold or silver forgovernment land.

Opponents said the order had caused fear and mistrust. Even some ofJackson's strongest supporters said it should be lifted. They said the measurehad done its job of ending land speculation. Now, they said, it was hurting theeconomy.

Two of President Van Buren's closest advisers urged him to continue theorder. Lifting it, they argued, would flood the federal government withworthless paper money.

Van Buren was troubled. The federal government had already lost nine milliondollars because of bank failures. The president wanted to make sure thegovernment had enough money. And he wanted this money safe until needed.

Yet he did not believe the federal government had the responsibility for endingthe depression. And, historian Joel Silbey says Van Buren did not believe thegovernment had the right to interfere in any way with private business.

“He said that over and over again. That the federal government doesn’t havethe power to do this.”

Mr. Silbey adds that Van Buren’s political philosophy grew out of the beliefs offormer president Thomas Jefferson. All of his life, he claimed to be aJeffersonian Democrat.

“That had a specific meaning to him: limited government, freedom for people— meaning white males. He was an egalitarian within the limits of thoseyears.”

Van Buren also shared Jackson’s suspicion of bankers. In general, hebelieved no group — neither the government, nor the wealthy — should havetoo much power, not even to help the economy.

So Van Buren decided to continue Jackson’s order. No government land couldbe bought with paper money.

The American economy got worse. The president called a special meeting ofCongress. In a message to lawmakers, Van Buren said "over-banking andover-trading" had caused the depression. He proposed several steps toprotect the government. One of them was for Congress to pass a lawpermitting the government to keep its own money in the Treasury.

America's Treasury Department received money when it collected importtaxes and sold land. It used this money to pay what the government owed. The Treasury did not, however, hold the money from the time it was collectedto the time it was paid out.

The Treasury put the money in private banks. President Van Buren wanted toend this custom. He wanted a law to let the Treasury keep government moneyin its own secure places.

The Whigs criticized Van Buren for thinking only of protecting the federalgovernment and not helping businessmen, farmers and the states. SomeDemocrats who believed strongly in states' rights also opposed Van Buren’sidea. All these opponents provided enough votes in Congress to defeat theproposal.

Van Buren tried again the following year to get approval for an independentTreasury. Again, the proposal was defeated.

Finally, in June 1840, Congress passed a law enabling the TreasuryDepartment to hold government money itself. Van Buren signed what wascalled the “Independent Treasury” bill. But the economic depressioncontinued.

Martin Van Buren also faced an international challenge from a surprisingplace. The president’s troubles with Canada will be our story next week.

I’m Steve Ember, inviting you to join us next time for The Making of a Nation —American history from VOA Learning English.