>Could anyone clue in this uneducated rube-what happened in 1835, and did it
>lead to depression?
There was a great boom in the early and mid-1830s. States borrowed heavily on domestic and international markets to build canals and roads. The federal government was running a big surplus which it turned over to the states. It was widely thought there would be wondrous results from improved communications. There was wild speculation in land and stocks. And then the bubble burst in the spring of 1837, leading to panic and years of depression.
Doug