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Document 43980

ANDREW JACKSON
President authorizes Chief Clerk to temporarily discharge the duties of 3rd Auditor.
ADS: "Andrew Jackson" as seventh U.S. President, 1p, 8x5. Washington, 1836 August 15. In full: "James Thompson Chief Clerk in the office of the 3d Auditor is hereby authorized to discharge the duties of that officer during his absence from the Seat of Government". The 1789 Act creating the Department of the Treasury named six officers of the department. One was the Auditor, a position since abolished. THE AUDITOR'S OFFICE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY WAS VERY BUSY DURING THE SUMMER OF 1836, WITH 24 STATE BANKS HOLDING U.S. FUNDS AND THE GOVERNMENT DISPERSING SURPLUS REVENUE TO THE STATES FROM THESE BANKS. Jackson issued this appointment in the second term of his Presidency when he was against the central bank of the country, the Bank of the United States. In September 1833, he had authorized the removal of funds from the Bank of the U.S. to the Girard Bank of Philadelphia. Over the next few months, government funds were transferred to 23 other state banks. On January 8, 1835, the U.S. government paid off the national debt in full. Six months later, on June 23, 1836, Congress voted to permit the government to disburse all but $5 million of a $37 million surplus to the states in proportion to their representation in Congress. Because several different types of paper money had become acceptable tender, inflation and land speculation had skyrocketed. On July 11, 1836, five weeks before this authorization, President Jackson issued a Specie Circular mandating that only gold and silver could be used to buy government lands. Credit began to shrink rapidly due to the Specie Circular, the withdrawal of payments out of depository banks when they went to the states as surplus revenue and the calling of loans by British banks. By May 1837, the country faced financial panic. By that year's end 618 banks failed, unemployment was at an all-time high and the country's return to sound financial footing would not occur for another seven years. This August 1836 temporary authorization of the Chief Clerk to perform the duties of the 3rd Auditor during his absence attests to the busy and critical financial times of the country. Tape repairs at file holes and at left horizontal fold on verso show through to blank areas. Nailhead-size file holes in bottom left and right blank margins. Shaded at edges and folds. Nicked edges. Folds, vertical fold touches the "w" in Andrew. Light crease between the "on" in Jackson. Overall, fine condition.

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