U.S. Treasury Department

Roosevelt Recession Begins After Conservative Treasury Secretary Persuades FDR to Cut Spending 17 Percent

1937-05-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

The American economy enters a severe recession in May 1937, lasting 13 months through June 1938, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepts the advice of his conservative Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. to slash government spending by 17% over two years in an effort to balance the federal …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Henry Morgenthau Jr. Federal Reserve U.S. Treasury Department Harry Hopkins +1 more economic-policy new-deal austerity recession conservative-sabotage

Jackson Issues Specie Circular Requiring Hard Money for Land Purchases, Triggering Credit Contraction

1836-07-11 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

President Andrew Jackson orders Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury to issue the Specie Circular, an executive order requiring that payment for public lands be made exclusively in gold or silver (specie) rather than paper currency, effective August 15, 1836 for purchases over 320 acres. The policy aims …

Andrew Jackson Levi Woodbury Martin Van Buren U.S. Treasury Department Land speculators financial-manipulation economic-policy jackson-era banking-system land-speculation +1 more