Studies in American History 
73 
621/2 cents in March, 1822, and but little more than 50 cents 
by May. A correspondent from Louisville said: ‘‘Statements 
have been made in several papers, that the paper of our 
banks was on the rise. This is not the fact, as yet. Specie 
is now from 80 to 83 per cent advance in this market.”®^ By 
October of 1822, a dollar of paper money had declined to less 
than 50 cents in specie, and all signs pointed to yet lower falls 
instead of any gains in value.®® The creditor, if he had lent 
specie, was put in a serious position ; if he accepted the paper 
money of the state’s banks, he lost half of what he had lent ; 
refusing that, he lost the chance of getting his money before 
the end of two years, when matters might be worse. It is 
little wonder that a legal way to protect property and hold 
men to their contracts was eagerly sought by both home and 
non-resident creditors.^®® 
The lowest point of business depression in the United 
States at large came at the end of 1820. The people in most 
of the states were slowly cured of the paper money delusion. 
For example, as early as 1821 the Tennessee courts declared 
the whole attempted relief system, somewhat similar to Ken- 
tucky’s, unconstitutional in that state.^®^ The financial con- 
dition of the country generally was improved by 1822. ^®2 
With this view Schouler agrees but says that “in Kentucky 
alone was the delirium of discredit prolonged for many years 
to come.”^®^ But even in Kentucky, while the worst of the 
political struggle was yet to come, there were signs of finan- 
cial improvement. It is noticeable that there is a searching 
for markets outside the state, and this is especially true con- 
cerning live stock. Markets for the first time for Kentucky 
hogs were extended as far as Raleigh, N.C., where they 
brought high prices.^®^ A correspondent from Kentucky wrote 
to Niles’ Register early in 1823 that the Bank of the Common- 
wealth had nearly destroyed the commerce of the state and 
broken down confidence between man and man, and that the 
people were getting tired of it; he admitted, however, that 
National Gazette, May 4, 1822; Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 30. 
McElroy, Kentucky in the Nation’s History (quoting Niles’ Register, XXXIII, 96) ; 
Sumner, Andreiv Jackson, 165. 
McElroy, op. cit., 386. 
Sumner, op. cit., 159. 
]02 Turner, The Rise of the Nero West, 140. 
Schouler, History of the United States of America under the Constitution, 1783- 
1865, III, 247. 
^0^ National Gazette, December 21, 1822. 
