[296] The number of these state banks more than doubled during Jackson's administration,[289] and investment patterns changed. The Bank, which had been the federal government's fiscal agent, invested heavily in trade and financed interregional and international trade. State banks were more responsive to state governments, and invested heavily in land development, land speculation, and state public works projects.[297] In spite of the efforts of Taney's successor, Levi Woodbury, to control them, the pet banks expanded their loans, helping to create a speculative boom in the final years of Jackson's administration.[298]
In January 1835, Jackson paid off the national debt, the only time in U.S. history that it had been accomplished.[299][300] It was paid down through tariff revenues,[283] carefully managing federal funding of internal improvements like roads and canals,[301] and the sale of public lands.[302] Between 1834 and 1836, the government had unprecedented spike in land sales:[303] At its peak in 1836, the profits from land sales were eight to twelve times higher than a typical year.[304] During Jackson's presidency, 63 million acres of public land—about the size of the state of Oklahoma—was sold.