While in Congress, Jackson unfortunately co-signed land speculation contract with partners who went bankrupt, and he narrowly escaped debtors prison. As president, Debtors prison was still a law on the books, so in his 1831 annual address he asked Congress to do something about it.
"Actuated by similar views, Congress at their last session passed an act for the relief of certain insolvent debtors of the United States, but the provisions of that law have not been deemed such as were adequate to that relief to this unfortunate class of our fellow citizens which may be safely extended to them. The points in which the law appears to be defective will be particularly communicated by the Secretary of the Treasury, and I take pleasure in recommending such an extension of its provisions as will unfetter the enterprise of a valuable portion of our citizens and restore to them the means of usefulness to themselves and the community. While deliberating on this subject I would also recommend to your consideration the propriety of so modifying the laws for enforcing the payment of debts due either to the public or to individuals suing in the courts of the United States as to restrict the imprisonment of the person to cases of fraudulent concealment of property. The personal liberty of the citizen seems too sacred to be held, as in many cases it now is, at the will of a creditor to whom he is willing to surrender all the means he has of discharging his debt."The United States eliminated the imprisonment of debtors under federal law in 1833 leaving the practice of debtors' prisons to states. By then, several states had already abolished debtors' prison. New York was the first to abolish incarceration for debt in 1831.
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