Hard times token

[2] In 1832, President Andrew Jackson ran for re-election and called for the abolition of the Second Bank of the United States.

Hoping to halt the inflation and speculation in public lands, Jackson and his Treasury secretary, Levi Woodbury, issued the Specie Circular on July 11, 1836.

It wasn't too long before the effects of Jackson's decision were felt across the nation as banks and businesses failed, and a depression ensued.

The period of economic hardship, the Panic of 1837, during Van Buren's presidency came to be known as the "Hard Times".

[3] Hard times tokens have been cataloged by Russell Rulau, based on earlier work by Lyman H. Low, and his numbering of types is the standard.