The Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial depression that affected many countries. The depression was the first global depression to many big countries. Some countries were the United States, Britain, Germany and Europe. The crisis was known as the “Great Depression” or the “Long Depression”. “The Panic was known as the "Great Depression" until the events in the early 1930s took precedence”. (Panic of 1873 Wikipedia).
After the Civil War many people invested in the railroads such as Jay Cooke & Company. Jay Cooke & Company was a U.S. bank that lasted from 1861-1873. Jay was an “American financier who helped finance the Union war effort during the American Civil War and the postwar development of railroads in the northwestern United
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States”.(Jay Cooke Wikipedia). Cooke borrowed 3 million dollars from the government of Pennsylvania to start his company. During the end of the war he secured more than 3 billion dollars for the federal government through various loans. Cooke played a huge role in financing the efforts of the Northern Pacific Company to build a transcontinental railroad. His company became financially overextended and failed. Jay Cooke lost almost all of his fortune but regain his wealth back during his later years. The financial crisis lasted about three weeks because the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from the previous year at the time.
Panic occurred and eventually spread throughout the nation. Many local banks, states and business entered bankruptcy. A primary cause was market liquidity by many New York banks. The panic triggered by the United Copper Company but failed. Banks that lent money spreaded to affiliated banks and trust. A week later the trust company called the Knickerbocker Trust Company grew fear and withdrew money from New York City banks. People also got scared and withdrew deposits from their regional banks.
At the time the president allowed the Second Bank of the United States to expire. Doing this, the U.S. was left without any sort of central bank. New York's money supply started to drop. Interest rates went up to attract money back. Some investors tried to send their money to New York to take advantage of the higher rates.
The Panic of 1873 really affected the United States. Even though the United States wasn't the only one affected, it was a big change in history. Many people lost thousands, millions and some even billions of dollars. Companies banks and states went bankrupt and some had to end their business because of that. The Long Depression was a very cruel and horrible
time.
The Great Depression was most likely the most severe and enduring economic crashes in the 20th Century (Source 1). That included a quick drop in the supply and demand of goods and services along with a big rise in unemployment (Source 1). Many things were the cause of the Great Depression, one is the U.S. stock market crash (Source 1). And two is the widespread failure in the American bank system
The Great Depression was the biggest and longest lasting economic crisis in U.S history. The Great depression hit the united states on October 29, 1929 When the stock market crashed. During 1929, everyone was putting in mass amounts of their income into the stock market. For every ten dollars made, Four dollars was invested into the stock market, thats forty percent of the individual's income (American Experience).
In 1893, the United States experienced its first major depression in the Panic of 1893. The stock market crashed, which led to a fall in the banking system. The depression caused many businesses to look overseas, and because of this foreign trade was an astounding $1.4 billion by 1900. The depression ...
Mortgages had foreclosed and agricultural prices fell by almost one half. Investments collapsed and price in land dropped. The drop lead to land speculation and the expansion of banks and the Second Bank of the United States. Export of agricultural goods and Import of manufactured goods increased. Their was widespread foreclosures and bank failures. All of these events ultimately lead to The Panic of 1819.
In the beginning of the 1830s, the United States experienced a short period of expansion and a prosperous economy. Land sales, new taxes, such as the Tariff of 1833, and the newly constructed railroads brought a lot of money into the government’s possession; never before in the history of the country had the government experienced a surplus in its national bank. By 1835, the government was able to accumulate enough money to pay off its national debt. Much of the country was happy with this newly accumulated wealth, but President Jackson, before leaving office in 1836, issued what is called a Specie Circular. Many local and state governments liked to save specie, or gold and silver, and use paper money to take care of transactions. President Jackson, in his Specie Circular, said that the Treasury was no longer allowed to accept paper money as payment for the sales of land and the like. Most, if not all, of the country did not like this, and as a result many banks restricted credit and discontinued the loans. The effects of Jackson’s Specie Circular took effect in 1837, when Martin van Buren became president. All investors became scared, and in 1837, attempted to withdraw all of their money at once. Soon after this, unemployment and riots occurred in many cities, and the continued expansion of the railroad ceased to be.
This bank held government money and controlled the economy by making it easier for local banks to borrow money from it to loan it to manufacturers and factories. As the idea arose the cabinet, Jefferson protested that such a bank was unconstitutional because it favored the north over the south since the bank did not loan money to farmers for land expansions. Being true as it is, the bank drastically boosted our economy and had a great future for our nation. Since it was unconstitutional, a compromise said that the bank would only be funded for 20 years. So as soon as Andrew Jackson was elected, he destroyed the bank. In response to this, our nation suddenly falls into a major depression. No one had jobs and the economy was dying. This showed the brilliance of the national bank and how much it helped our economy. Adding onto this, the bank began the formation of the Federalist and Democratic
In history, it seems inarguably true that when a nation advanced in power and wealth, changes will soon followed. These changes affected the political, economic and social system of that nation, and often came as an advantage for wealthy individuals, while detrimental to others less fortunate. An example of this notion can be seen in American History. After the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era, America quickly surpassed Great Britain in industrial production thus became the leading nation in industrialization. However, great things do not come without a cost; the rapid technological expansion in the US would initiate the crisis of the 1890s. The crisis of the 1890s was the shift from the rural and agrarian society to a modern urban and industrial society.
The shares values had fallen and this left people panicking. Many businesses closed and several of the banks did not last because of the businesses collapsing. Many people lost their jobs because of this factor. Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, which helped reorganize the banks and closed the ones that were insolvent. Then three days later he urged Americans to put their savings back in their banks and by the end of the month basically three quarters of them reopened. Many people refer to the Banking Act as the Glass Steagall Act that ended up prohibiting commercial banks from engaging in the investment business and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The purpose of this was to get rid of the speculations in securities making banking safer than before. The demand for goods were declining, so the value of the money was
The joint financial failures of the companies sparked a crash in the stock market. This served as a catalyst for a surge of bank failures because many New York banks were big investors in the Stock Market. The financial disaster began in New York and soon permeated its way throughout the country. Over a six-month period, over 8,000 businesses, 156 railroads, 400 banks failed, and 20% of Americans were unemployed By July of 1893, there was massive unemployment in factories and extensive wage cuts.... ... middle of paper ... ...currency.
The Great Depression was a period in United States history when business was poor and many people were out of work. The beginning of the Great Depression in the United States was associated with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. Thousands of investors lost large amounts of money and many were wiped out, lost everything. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of Americans jobless and homeless (Baughman 82).
The Great Depression was in no way the only depression the country has ever seen, but it was one of the worst economic downfalls in the United States. As for North America and the United States, the Great Depression was the worst it had ever seen. In addition to North America, the Depression greatly affected Europe and other various countries throughout the world significantly during the 1920’s and 1930’s. The Great Depression was caused by the collapse of the Stock Market, which happened in October of 1929. The crash exhausted about forty percent of the paper values of common stocks. It was the worst depression due to the fact that at the time of the Great Depression the government involvement in the economy was higher than it had ever been. A unique government agency had been set up exclusively to prevent depressions and their related troubles for instance bank panics. All of ...
Great Depression was one of the most severe economic situation the world had ever seen. It all started during late 1929 and lasted till 1939. Although, the origin of depression was United Sattes but with US Economy being highly correlated with global economy, the ill efffects were seen in the whole world with high unemployment, low production and deflation. Overall it was the most severe depression ever faced by western industrialized world. Stock Market Crashes, Bank Failures and a lot more, left the governments ineffective and this lead the global economy to what we call today- ‘’Great Depression’’.(Rockoff). As for the cause and what lead to Great Depression, the issue is still in debate among eminent economists, but the crux provides evidence that the worst ever depression ever expereinced by Global Economy stemed from multiple causes which are as follows:
For nearly five years the Ku Klux Klan spread throughout the United States. It was not until the enforcement acts of 1870 and 1871 that took action against terrorist groups. At this time, the south was still physically and emotionally recovering from the Civil War. Economically, they struggled and crisis swept throughout, causing failure in railroad companies, education, transportation, and prisons. The Panic of 1873 doubled the depression and rage. With Ulysses S. Grant in the position of president, government began paying less and less attention to issues over prejudice, discrimination, and racial harassment and the all interest in trying to protect African Americans in the south was lost. Impatience from expenses and struggle arrived in
When the stock market started failing, many factories closed production of all types of goods. Businesses and banks started closing down and farmers fell into bankruptcy. Many people lose everything, their jobs, their savings, and their homes. More than thirteen million people are unemployed. The Great Depression caused major political changes.
The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downfall in the history of the United Sates. No event has yet to rival The Great Depression to the present day today although we have had recessions in the past, and some economic panics, fears. Thankfully the United States of America has had its shares of experiences from the foundation of this country and throughout its growth many economic crises have occurred. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors ("The Great Depression."). In turn from this single tragic event, numerous amounts of chain reactions occurred.