Oyster Injustice
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The Oyster Injustice of 1834-1835 was the result of an unusually poor oyster season in the Chesapeake Bay fishery and President Andrew Jackson's withdrawing of federal funding from the national bank. Dozens of fishermen lost their boats when they defaulted on loans made by state and local banks. The federal bank had previously allowed fishermen to defer loan payments during years of poor harvest. This policy was maintained by banks in Maryland, but Virginia banks were quick to foreclose on loans regardless of circumstances.
After the bumper harvest of 1835, many of the boats previously owned by the Virginia fisherman were sold by the banks to the now prosperous Maryland oystermen. This heightened already tense relations between the two groups, who had previously fought over fishing rights in the Chesapeake Bay. Frustrations of the Virginia fisherman culminated in the burning of at least two of the boats they had previously owned.
[edit] References
Report of the U.S. Fish Commission for 1873-74 and 1874-75 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1876), p. 289.
J. D. Andrews and J. L. Wood, "Oyster Mortality Studies in Virginia. VI. History and Distribution of Minchinia nelsoni, a Pathogen of Oysters, in Virginia," Chesapeake Science, Vol. 8 (1967), p. 1.
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