Today in History: The National Debt Reaches Zero for the First and Last time

On January 8, 1835, President Andrew Jackson achieved his goal of entirely paying off the United States’ national debt. It was the only time in U.S. history that the national debt stood at zero. 

Although being in debt sounds bad, there is actually an economic strategy behind the national debt, and shortly after the debt was paid American’s faced one of its worst financial crises ever.

Photo: Flickr