feucent.gif - 8615 Bytes   
Virtual Coin and Token Library

Hard Times Tokens

Events during the mid to late 1830's led to a great depression. President Andrew Jackson was opposed to the U.S. Second Chartered Bank and thought the banking system to be corrupt and benefited private entities. Jackson withdrew money from the Federal Bank and deposited it in the smaller State Banks. Specie payments were suspended on May 10, 1837. This meant that banks could only receive payments for land purchases only in gold or silver coin. As a result of this "Executive Experiment", paper money and other script, nicknamed "shin plasters", issued by private banks and other individuals became worthless and U.S. coinage was greatly hoarded. Financial panic followed and some banks and industries both large and small and in both the north and south failed. The year of 1837 ended with a very cold winter in which many unemployed people froze or starved to death. This along with the events earlier in the year lead America into the “Hard Times” era.

Privately issued advertising and satirical political tokens, similar in size to the then circulating U.S. large cent coin, became accepted in trade and began to circulate as a substitute for coinage. These tokens often reflected our country's mood and feelings towards the President and the U.S. Government.

These are just a few examples of the many Hard Times tokens that were struck in the 1830's and 1840's. The tokens are attributed by HT number found in the Standard Catalog of United States Tokens, 1700 to 1900, by Russell Rulau and by Low number as described by Lyman H. Low.

Home