and inaugurated March. 4, 1837[1].

[Footnote 1: _Ibid_., Chap. 7.]

%347 The New National Debt; the Independent Treasury.%--But scarcely
had he taken the oath of office when the panic swept over the country,
and his whole term was one of financial distress or hard times. The
suspension of specie payment and the failures of many banks and
merchants left the government without money, and forced Van Buren to
call an extra session of Congress in September, 1837. Before adjourning,
Congress ordered the fourth or October installment of the distributed
revenue to be suspended. It has never been given to the states.
Congress also authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to issue
$10,000,000 in treasury notes, and so laid the foundation for the second
national debt, which one cause or another has continued ever since.

The experience the government had thus twice passed through (1814 and
1837) led the people to believe it ought not to keep its money in state
banks. But just where the money should be kept was a disputed party
question. The Whigs insisted on a third National Bank like the old one
Jackson had destroyed. Van Buren wanted what was called an "Independent
Treasury," and after four attempts the act establishing it was passed
in 1840.

The law created four "receivers general" (one each at Boston, New York,
Charleston, and St. Louis), to whom all money collected by the United
States officials should be turned over, and directed that "rooms,
vaults, and safes" should be provided for the safe keeping of
the money.[1]

[Footnote 1: Shepard's _Van Buren,_ Chap. 9.]

As might be expected, the people laid all the blame for the hard times
on Van Buren and his party. The Democrats, they said, had destroyed the
National Bank; they had then removed the United States money, and given
it to "pet" state banks; they had then distributed the surplus, and by
taking the surplus from the state banks had brought on the panic.
Whether this was true or not, the people believed it, and were
determined to "turn out little Van."

The campaign of 1840 was the most novel, exciting, and memorable that
had yet taken place. Three parties had candidates in the field. The
Antislavery party put forward James Gillespie Birney and Thomas Earle.
The Democrats in their convention renominated Van Buren, but no Vice
President. The Whigs nominated W.H. Harrison, and John Tyler of
Virginia. The mention of the Antislavery party makes it necessary to
a