Free The Book of Bastards by Brian Thornton Page B

in 1841 Van Buren abruptly came to the “shocking” conclusion that slavery was evil(!). He ran as a “Free Soil” candidate for president in 1844 but lost to James K. Polk in the primaries. Of course slavery and the question of it never seemed to bother him much while he was in a position to do something about it.
    Jackson hated the Bank of the United States, a federally chartered bank that helped set the value of American currency. In one of the most shortsighted moves in American history, Jackson shut the bank down. He moved the contents of the treasury's balance books to a number of what he called “pet banks.” These state and privately chartered banks were allowed to make loans with the federal specie they received. In addition, Jackson loosened federal regulations on who could lend money and who couldn't, making it possible for anyone with a can of paint, a brush, and a board plank big enough to hang out a sign and go into business as a “bank.”
    The result should have been predictable, especially for a sharp political customer like Van Buren. By mid-1837, the economy was so badly crippled and trade so nearly completely cut off that in many places people gave up the use of currency altogether and reverted to a barter system. It took well into the 1840s for the economy to begin to recover.

27
SWARTWOUT-HOYT
Gesundheit! (1783–1856)
    â€œThe action was assumpsit, to recover from the defendant the sum of thirty-one hundred dollars and seventy-eight cents, received by him for duties, as collector of the port of New York, on an importation of worsted shawls with cotton borders, and worsted suspenders with cotton straps or ends.”
    â€” U.S. Court Case Nelson Elliot V. Samuel Swartwout , 1836
    Imagine a political office so naturally corrupt that crook after crook used it to cash in illegally. Take the Collectorship of the Port of New York, for example. Samuel Swartwout and Jesse Hoyt certainly did.
    Swartwout was a Democratic political fixer with a power base in New York and a history of dabbling in political intrigue. One of Aaron Burr's lieutenants in his failed “Western Conspiracy,” Swartwout served as a runner between Burr and James Wilkinson in their talks for putting Burr's plot into action. Wilkinson eventually arrested Swartwout and held him without trial on a U.S. warship for his trouble. Eventually cleared, Swartwout even shared Burr's European exile for a while.
    By the time Andrew Jackson ran for the presidency in 1828 he needed fixers like Swartwout. Swartwout helped get out the New York vote, and Jackson rewarded him with the plum political post of customs collector for the Port of New York.
    Swartwout embezzled just over $2 million (worth close to ten times that in today's currency) during his eight years in office. But Swartwout was really only the tip of the bastardberg. Corrupt officials riddled the Customs Office; everyone seemed to be shaving a bit off the top of duties owed to the U.S. government.
    When Swartwout's political enemy Martin Van Buren succeeded Jackson as president in 1837, he did not renew Swartwout's appointment. Van Buren was also a New Yorker and had heard the rumors about corruption in the state Customs Office. Swartwout immediately sailed for England, ostensibly to inspect some property he owned there. But he forgot to close out his Customs Office expense account before he did so, and investigators found evidence of impropriety while he was gone.
    Swartwout stayed in England, no doubt buoyed by the $2 million he'd actually taken with him. When the story broke in the papers, Swartwout became known as the “Prince of Thieves.” But that's only part of the story.
    Jesse Hoyt, a New York lawyer and Van Buren's political ally, was appointed in order to oversee cleanup of the whole business, but he didn't bother to sack everyone working in the office and start over. (Sound familiar? Think about it: how many people at Goldman