Martin Van Buren, Jackson's successor

After Jackson's presidency, right after he instituted the Specie Circular, Martin Van Buren took office. The Specie Circular made farmers pay for their land in gold and silver. This was a problem for banks because they couldn't loan money to farmers to then buy their land because banks needed the gold and silver to issue paper money. Since money couldn't be circulated, the economy started to make a downturn. Bankers pleaded with Van Buren to remove the act of Jackson but Van Buren refused to revoke the bill and didn't do anything else to reverse the looming depression. In fact, Van Buren pulled out the government reserve out of Jackson's banks and stored it where it couldn't be circulated and therefore slowed the nation's recovery. The Whigs exploited Van Buren's Follies and used them to promote William Henry Harrison. William Henry Harrison swept the vote for president in the next election because of what most people thought was the failure of Van Buren's presidency.