8 янв 1836 г. - National debt is paid off

Описание:

The entire national debt is paid off by President Andrew Jackson. This was the only time in the country's history where the federal government was completely debt-free, as they would fall back under the next year (and also suffer an economic recession). Jackson, like many things, hated debt. Before he ran for president, he was a land speculator, and hated getting into debt. Jackson started selling off US land in the West, as well as vetoing every spending bill he could. By the beginning of 1836, Jackson had not only paid all the $58 million the country owed, but even managed to get a surplus. Jackson invested the extra money in state banks (as he had already killed the National Bank), who proceeded to overprint paper currency, causing a massive devaluation of US money, causing the Panic of 1837. To help with the recession, the government started borrowing money again, plunging the country back into debt.