President Martin Van Buren and A Banking Crisis

During President Martin Van Buren's term the country experienced a major banking crises just two months into his term. Welcome to the presidency! Well, you know not all terms go smoothly. It's part of the job. Anyway, what happened was all but six of the nation's 800 or so banks had ceased redeeming their bank notes in gold or silver. Van Buren, a strong believer in Jefferson's dictum "that government is best which governs least," refused to suggest to Congress any specific plan for gov't intervention to attempt to alleviate the efforts of the depression. The big-gov't interventionists of the day denounced him, but he stuck to his principles. (Good for him!) Rather than intervening, Van Buren fought for financial deregulation, ushering in the Independent Treasury System, a new national banking system under which all bank notes were redeemable in gold and silver. This financial deregulation produced what was arguably the most stable monetary system the U. S. has ever had.

Thanks to Van Buren's laissez-faire policies, the depression of 1837 ended very quickly. 

By the way, all this history comes from the book How Capitalism Saved America (2004) by Thomas J. DiLorenzo. Interesting book.