Political
May 15, 1837 Philadelphia Satirical Capital Currency Note
Philadelphia, PA, Isaac Abrams 10¢ Capital Currency, Nicholas Biddle & Bank of the United States Political / Satirical Note, May 15, 1837, PMG graded Very Good-10.
Haxby-Not listed. HT-N26A in Russ Rulau’s “Standard Catalog of United States Tokens, 1700-1900.” Signed by “T. Young” as Cashier and Isaac Abrams as President. Net graded as being backed. This wonderful vignette note refers to Nicholas Biddle, who was President of the ill-fated Bank of the United States. In May 1837, specie payments were suspended following a run on the banks. This resulted in massive shutdowns of factories, subsequent high unemployment, and freezing and starving during the winter of 1837-38. This interesting note has a fabulous and creative design that shows a group of Quakers protesting the street-preaching of a man named Abrams. Ex: Smythe & Co., 1996 PCDA Sale #156, October 25, 1996, (no lot tag) Lot 1690.
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down while unemployment went up. Pessimism abounded during the time. The panic had both domestic and foreign origins. Speculative lending practices in western states, a sharp decline in cotton prices, a collapsing land bubble, international specie flows, and restrictive lending policies in Great Britain were all to blame.

On May 10, 1837, banks in New York City suspended specie payments, meaning that they would no longer redeem commercial paper in specie at full face value.

Despite a brief recovery in 1838, the recession persisted for approximately seven years. Banks collapsed, businesses failed, prices declined, and thousands of workers lost their jobs. Unemployment may have been as high as 25% in some locales. The years 1837 to 1844 were, generally speaking, years of deflation in wages and prices.