USA Coinage: 1829 - 1836
under President: Andrew Jackson
 
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 08, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from March 4, 1829 to March 4, 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of Congress. As president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the "common man" against a "corrupt aristocracy" and to preserve the Union.
Leading up to 1812, the United States found itself increasingly drawn into international conflict. Formal hostilities with Spain or France never materialized, but tensions with Britain increased for a number of reasons. Among these was the desire of many Americans for more land, particularly British Canada and Florida, the latter still controlled by Spain, Britain's European ally. On June 18, 1812, Congress officially declared war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, beginning the War of 1812. On January 10, 1813, Jackson led an army of 2,071 volunteers to New Orleans to defend the region against British and Native American attacks.He was to serve under General Wilkinson, who commanded Federal forces in New Orleans. Lacking adequate provisions, Wilkinson ordered Jackson to halt in Natchez, now part of the Mississippi Territory, and await further orders. Jackson reluctantly obeyed.
On August 30, 1813, a group of Muscogee (also known as Creek Indians) called the Red Sticks, so named for the color of their war paint, perpetrated the Fort Mims massacre. The Red Sticks, led by chiefs Red Eagle and Peter McQueen, had broken away from the rest of the Creek Confederacy, which wanted peace with the United States. They were allied with Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief who had launched Tecumseh's War against the United States, and who was fighting alongside the British. During the massacre, hundreds of white American settlers and non-Red Stick Creeks were slaughtered. The resulting conflict became known as the Creek War. Jackson, with 2,500 men, was ordered to crush the hostile Indians. On October 10, he set out on the expedition, his arm still in a sling. Jackson established Fort Strother as a supply base. On November 3, Coffee defeated a band of Red Sticks at the Battle of Tallushatchee. Coming to the relief of friendly Creeks besieged by Red Sticks, Jackson won another decisive victory at the Battle of Talladega. From January 22–24, 1814, while on their way, the Tennessee militia and allied Muscogee were attacked by the Red Sticks at the Battles of Emuckfaw and Enotachopo Creek. Jackson's troops repelled the attackers, but outnumbered, were forced to withdraw to Fort Strother. Jackson, now with over 2,000 troops, marched most of his army south to confront the Red Sticks at a fortress they had constructed at a bend in the Tallapoosa River. On March 27, enjoying an advantage of more than 2 to 1, he engaged them at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. An initial artillery barrage did little damage to the well-constructed fort. However, a subsequent Infantry charge, in addition to an assault by Coffee's cavalry and diversions caused by the friendly Creeks, overwhelmed the Red Sticks.
On June 08, 1814, Jackson accepted a commission as brigadier general in the United States Army, and 10 days later became a major general, in command of the Seventh Military Division. In the November 07 Battle of Pensacola, Jackson defeated British and Spanish forces in a short skirmish. The Spanish surrendered and the British fled. Weeks later, he learned that the British were planning an attack on New Orleans, which sat on the mouth of the Mississippi River and held immense strategic and commercial value. Jackson abandoned Pensacola to the Spanish, placed a force in Mobile, Alabama to guard against a possible invasion there, and rushed the rest of his force west to defend the city. The Creeks coined their own name for Jackson, Jacksa Chula Harjo or "Jackson, old and fierce".
The British arrived on the east bank of the Mississippi River on the morning of December 23. That evening Jackson attacked the British and temporarily drove them back. On January 8, 1815, the British launched a major frontal assault against Jackson's defenses. Despite some success in attacking the right flank, the overall attack ended in disaster. For the battle on January 8, Jackson admitted to only 71 total casualties. Of these, 13 men were killed, 39 wounded, and 19 missing or captured. The British, however, admitted 2,037 casualties. Of these, 291 men were killed (including Pakenham), 1,262 wounded, and 484 missing or captured. After the battle, the British retreated from the area, and open hostilities ended shortly thereafter when word spread that the Treaty of Ghent had been signed in Europe that December. Coming in the waning days of the war, Jackson's victory made him a national hero, as the country celebrated the end of what many called the "Second American Revolution" against the British. By a Congressional resolution on February 27, 1815, Jackson was given the Thanks of Congress and awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. Alexis de Tocqueville ("underwhelmed" by Jackson according to a 2001 commentator) later wrote in Democracy in America that Jackson "was raised to the Presidency, and has been maintained there, solely by the recollection of a victory which he gained, twenty years ago, under the walls of New Orleans."
Following the war, Jackson remained in command of Army forces on the southern border of the U.S. He conducted official business from The Hermitage. He signed treaties with the Cherokee and Chickasaw which gained for the United States large parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. The treaty with the Chickasaw, finally agreed to later in the year, is commonly known as the Jackson Purchase. Several Native American tribes, which became known as the Seminole, straddled the border between the U.S. and Florida. The Seminole, in alliance with escaped slaves, frequently raided Georgia settlements before retreating back into Florida. These skirmishes continually escalated, and the conflict is now known as the First Seminole War.  In 1816, Jackson led a detachment into Florida which destroyed the Negro Fort, a community of escaped slaves and their descendants. Jackson was ordered by President James Monroe in December 1817 to lead a campaign in Georgia against the Seminole and Creek Indians. Jackson was also charged with preventing Spanish Florida from becoming a refuge for runaway slaves, after Spain promised freedom to fugitive slaves. Critics later alleged that Jackson exceeded orders in his Florida actions. His orders from President Monroe were to "terminate the conflict". Jackson believed the best way to do this was to seize Florida from Spain once and for all. Before departing, Jackson wrote to Monroe, "Let it be signified to me through any channel ... that the possession of the Floridas would be desirable to the United States, and in sixty days it will be accomplished." Jackson invaded Florida on March 15, 1818, capturing Pensacola. He crushed Seminole and Spanish resistance in the region and captured two British agents, Robert Ambrister and Alexander Arbuthnot. After a brief trial, Jackson executed both British agents, causing a diplomatic incident with the British. Jackson's actions polarized Monroe's cabinet, some of whom argued that Jackson had gone against Monroe's orders and violated the Constitution, since the United States had not declared war upon Spain. Yet Jackson was defended by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. Adams thought that Jackson's conquest of Florida would force Spain to finally sell the province, and Spain did indeed sell Florida to the United States in the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819. A congressional investigation exonerated Jackson, but Jackson was deeply angered by the criticism he received, particularly from Speaker of the House Henry Clay. After the ratification of the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1821, Jackson briefly served as the Governor of Florida before returning to Tennessee.
The United States presidential election of 1824 was the tenth quadrennial presidential election, held from Tuesday, October 26, to Thursday, December 2, 1824. John Quincy Adams was elected President on February 09, 1825. The election was the only one in history to be decided by the House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution after no candidate secured a majority of the electoral vote. It was also the first U.S. presidential election where the popular vote was recorded and the only presidential election in which the candidate who received a plurality of electoral votes (Andrew Jackson) did not become President, a source of great bitterness for Jackson and his supporters, who proclaimed the election of Adams a corrupt bargain. Prior to the election, the Democratic-Republican Party had won six consecutive presidential elections. In 1824 the Democratic-Republican Party failed to agree on a choice of candidate for president, with the result that the party effectively ceased to exist and split four ways behind four separate candidates. Four Democratic-Republican candidates were Andrew Jackson from Tennessee got 41.4% (Electoral vote: 99), John Quincy Adams from Massachusetts got 30.9% (Electoral vote: 84), William Harris Crawford from Georgia got 11.2% (Electoral vote: 41) and Henry Clay from Kentucky got 13.0% (Electoral vote: 37). Later, the faction led by Jackson would evolve into the modern Democratic Party in the 1828 election, while the factions led by Adams and Henry Clay would become the National Republican Party and then the Whig Party.
The United States presidential election of 1828 was the 11th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, October 31, to Tuesday, December 2, 1828. It featured a re-match between incumbent President John Quincy Adams of National Republican and Andrew Jackson for Democratic, who won a plurality of the electoral college vote in the 1824 election. With no other major candidates, Jackson and his chief ally Martin Van Buren consolidated their bases in the South and New York and easily defeated Adams. The Democratic Party merged its strength from the existing supporters of Jackson and their coalition with some of the supporters of William H. Crawford (the "Old Republicans") and Vice-President John C. Calhoun. Jackson was the first president whose home state was neither Massachusetts nor Virginia.
The United States presidential election of 1832 was the 12th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 2, to Wednesday, December 5, 1832. It saw incumbent President Andrew Jackson, candidate of the Democratic Party, easily win re-election against Henry Clay of Kentucky, candidate of the National Republican Party, and Anti-Masonic Party candidate William Wirt. Jackson won 219 of the 286 electoral votes cast. Virginia Governor John Floyd, who was not a candidate, received the electoral votes of South Carolina. This was the first national election for Martin Van Buren of New York, who was put on the ticket to succeed John C. Calhoun as vice-president and four years later would succeed Jackson as president. Van Buren faced opposition for the vice-presidency within his own party, however, and as a result, all 30 Pennsylvania electors cast ballots for native son William Wilkins.
Jackson died at his plantation on June 08, 1845, at the age of 78, of chronic tuberculosis, dropsy, and heart failure. According to a newspaper account from the Boon Lick Times, "[he] fainted whilst being removed from his chair to the bed ... but he subsequently revived ... Gen. Jackson died at the Hermitage at 6 o'clock P.M. on Sunday the 8th instant. ... When the messenger finally came, the old soldier, patriot and Christian was looking out for his approach. He is gone, but his memory lives, and will continue to live." In his will, Jackson left his entire estate to his adopted son, Andrew Jackson Jr., except for specifically enumerated items that were left to various friends and other family members.
Jackson had three adopted sons: Theodore, an Indian about whom little is known, Andrew Jackson Jr., the son of Rachel's brother Severn Donelson, and Lyncoya, a Creek Indian orphan adopted by Jackson after the Battle of Tallushatchee. Lyncoya died of tuberculosis on July 1, 1828, at the age of sixteen. The Jacksons also acted as guardians for eight other children. John Samuel Donelson, Daniel Smith Donelson, and Andrew Jackson Donelson were the sons of Rachel's brother Samuel Donelson, who died in 1804. Andrew Jackson Hutchings was Rachel's orphaned grand nephew. Caroline Butler, Eliza Butler, Edward Butler, and Anthony Butler were the orphaned children of Edward Butler, a family friend. They came to live with the Jacksons after the death of their father.
 
 
Currency: Dollar = 100 cents
Monetary System: Penny = Cent, Trime = 3 Cents, Nickel = 5 Cents, Dime = 10 Cents, Quarter = 25 Cents, Half Dollar = 50, Cents, Dollar = 100 Cents, Quarter Eagle = $2.50 Gold, Stella = $4.00 Gold, Half Eagle = $5.00 Gold, Eagle = $10.00 Gold and Double Eagle = $20.00 Gold.
Mint Marks:
C – Charlotte, N.C., 1838-1861.
CC – Carson City, NV, 1870-1893.
D – Dahlonega, GA, 1838-1861.
D – Denver, CO, 1906-present.
O – New Orleans, LA, 1838-1909.
P – Philadelphia, PA, 1793-present (coins without mintmark also belongs to Philadelphia).
S – San Francisco, CA, 1854-present.
W – West Point, NY, 1984-present.

 
 
1832
 

Lettering: FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR

KM#37 Half Dollar (50 cents). Year: 1832 (Small Letters type). Weight: 13.39 g [13.48 g]. Metal: 0.892 Silver. Diameter: 32.50 mm. Edge: Lettering: FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR. Alignment: Coin. Mint: Philadelphia, USA. Obverse: The bust of Liberty wearing a Phrygian cap (Freedom cap of the American Revolutionary War), facing left in the center. The headband carries the inscription "LIBERTY". Liberty’s hair is curling and flowing gently downwards and a small part of her dress can be seen just below the neck. There are seven stars at the left side and six stars at the right side (representing the original thirteen states in the Union). The Date, slightly curved at the bottom right side. No mint mark belongs to Philadelphia, USA. My coin has edge readable when the Date side in on the top.

Reverse: "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" written at the top section. A scroll (banner) above the eagle includes the motto "E PLURIBUS UNUM". Eagle with opened wings, looking left, holding three arrows and olive branch in its claws in the center. Value "50 C." written at the bottom. Mintage: 4,797,000. Mintage Years: 1807 large stars, 1807 50/20 C., 1807 bearded goddess, 1808, 1808/7, 1809 IIIIIII edge, 1809 Normal edge, 1809 XXXX edge, 1810, 1811 small 8, 1811 large 8, 1811 dated 18.11, 1812, 1812/1 small 8, 1812/1 large 8, 1812 Single leaf below wing, 1813, 1813 50/UNI reverse, 1814, 1814/3, 1814 E/A in States, 1814 Single leaf below wing, 1815/2, 1817, 1817/3, 1817/4, 1817 dated 181.7, 1817 Single leaf below wing, 1818, 1818/7 Large 8, 1818/7 Small 8, 1819, 1819/8 small 9, 1819/8 large 9, 1820 Curl Base 2 -small date, 1820 Square Base 2 with knob - large date, 1820 Square Base 2 without knob - large date, 1820 E's without Serifs, 1820/19 Square Base 2, 1820/19 Curled Base 2, 1821, 1822, 1822/1, 1823, 1823 broken 3, 1823 patched 3, 1823 ugly 3, 1824, 1824/21, 1824/4, 1824 1824/various dates, 1825, 1826, 1827 curled 2, 1827 square 2, 1827/6, 1828 curled-base 2 - no knob, 1828 curled base 2 - knobbed 2, 1828 small 8s - square-base 2 -large letters, 1828 small 8s, square-base 2 - small letters, 1828 large 8s - squarebase 2, 1829, 1829 Large letters, 1829/7, 1830 Small O rev 4, 1830 Large O, 1830 Large letter rev, 1831, 1832 small letters, 1832 large letters, 1833, 1834 small date - large stars - small letters, 1834 small date - small stars - small letters, 1834 large date - small letters, 1834 large date - large letters, 1835, 1836, 1836 and 1836 50/00. Engraver: John Reich / William Kneass (both sides). This coin is commonly known by coin collectors as "Capped Bust Half Dollar". The bald eagle is the symbol of the United States. The white feathers of its head and tail appear only after 7 years hence its name bald eagle. There are three varieties of the 1807 strikes. Two are distinguished by the size of the stars on the obverse. The third was struck from a reverse die that had a 5 cut over a 2 in the "50C" denomination. Two varieties of the 1811 are distinguished by the size of the 8 in the date. A third has a period between the 8 and second 1 in the date. One variety of the 1817 has a period between the 1 and 7 in the date. Two varieties of the 1820 are distinguished by the size of the date. On the 1823 varieties, the "broken 3" appears to be almost separated in the middle of the 3 in the date; the "patched 3" has the error repaired; the "ugly 3" has portions of its detail missing. The 1827 "curled-2" and "square-2" varieties are distinguished by the numeral's base -- either curled or square. Among the 1828 varieties, "knobbed 2" and "no knob" refers to whether the upper left serif of the digit is rounded. The 1830 varieties are distinguished by the size of the 0 in the date. The four 1834 varieties are distinguished by the sizes of the stars, date and letters in the inscriptions. The 1836 "50/00" variety was struck from a reverse die that has "50" recut over "00" in the denomination.

1832 Small Letters and Large Letters details.
The Classic Head was a design issued by the mint in the early 19th century. It was introduced for copper coinage in 1808 by engraver John Reich and later redesigned and improved by Chief Engraver William Kneass. John Reich designed Half cents: 1809 to 1836 and Large cents: 1808 until 1814. William Kneass redesigned Quarter Eagle: 1834 to 1839 and Half Eagle: 1834 to 1837.
 
 
Hard time tokens
Hard-times tokens are large cent-sized copper tokens, struck from about 1833 through 1843, serving as unofficial currency. These privately made pieces, comprising merchant, political and satirical pieces, were used during a time of political and financial crisis in the United States. Today, hard-times tokens are collectible and usually very affordable as coins or as political history.

In 1832, President Andrew Jackson ran for re-election and called for the abolition of the Second Bank of the United States. While he won the election, he worked to weaken the bank before the charter expired in 1836. Without the Bank of the United States, state banks attempted to fill the paper money gap and issued a large number of bank notes, which fueled inflation. 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. The circular simply stated that as of August 15 1836, banks and others who received public money were required to accept only gold and silver coins in payment for public lands. Instead of the intended results, the circular spelled the end of a time of economic prosperity. The circular set into motion a panic, and the public began hoarding specie. Without specie to pay out, banks and merchants began having financial troubles. 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.

By this time, Jackson's vice president, Martin Van Buren, was the elected president in office. The period of economic hardship, the Panic of 1837, during Van Buren's presidency came to be known as the "Hard Times".
 
1835 - United States, Boston City. Hard Times Copper Token "Alfred Willard" issued at Boston (Massachusetts, USA).

Plain edge of the coin.
Rulau HT 171. Hard Time Token (Cent) Year: ND (1835). Weight: 10.85 g. Metal: Copper. Diameter: 28.00 mm. Edge: Plain. Alignment: Medal. Mint: N.A. Obverse: Elaborate decorative hairpin within inner circle. Exergue (outer circle clockwise): "ALFRED WILLARD 149 WASHINGTON Si" written around and "·BOSTON·" written at the bottom. Reverse: "* IMPORTER OF JEWELRY *" written at the top section. Inscription in eight lines in the center: "BRUSHES, PERFUMERY, COMBS &c BY WHOLESALE OR RETAIL". "FANCY GOODS, CUTLERY, &c." written at the bottom section. Mintage: N.A. Mintage Years: N.A.
 
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