A Dictionary of American History

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Author: Thomas L. Purvis  | Date: 1995

Specie Circular

Specie Circular On 11 July 1836, Andrew Jackson proclaimed that after 15 August, US land offices would only accept specie as payment for public lands. (Until 15 December, however, paper money would be accepted as payment for tracts up to 320 acres so long as the purchaser lived in the state or territory where the land was located.) The Circular was intended to depress a wave of land speculation which had been fed by an outpouring of promissory notes printed by wildcat banks, and thus to benefit pioneers by lowering land prices. But it created a greater demand for specie that produced a shortage of hard money. Actual settlers found it more difficult to pay for farms, while speculators nevertheless managed to acquire specie through their superior financial resources. Congress passed a bill overriding the Circular, but Jackson pocket-vetoed it in March 1837. The Circular contributed to the panic of 1837. Congress ended the policy by a joint resolution of 21 May 1838.

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Chicago: Thomas L. Purvis, "Specie Circular," A Dictionary of American History in A Dictionary of American History (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Reference, 1995), Original Sources, accessed June 6, 2023, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=KRU48HKVG5YDDJ7.

MLA: Purvis, Thomas L. "Specie Circular." A Dictionary of American History, in A Dictionary of American History, Cambridge, Mass., Blackwell Reference, 1995, Original Sources. 6 Jun. 2023. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=KRU48HKVG5YDDJ7.

Harvard: Purvis, TL, 'Specie Circular' in A Dictionary of American History. cited in 1995, A Dictionary of American History, Blackwell Reference, Cambridge, Mass.. Original Sources, retrieved 6 June 2023, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=KRU48HKVG5YDDJ7.