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Panic of 1792
During March and April of 1792, William Duer and Alexander Macomb tried to oppose each other in the rise and fall of dtaock market prices. This ultimately reaulted in a bank run. Although securities lost about 25% or their values, Alexander Hamilton was able to intervene and return the situation back to normal. -
Panic of 1797
Deflation in the bank of England hindered real estate and commercial markets in the United States. Although the south was relatively unaffected, the north suffered badly from an almost dead stop in their economic activity. -
Panic of 1819
This panic resulted from the overspeculation of frontier lands. It was a harsh punch to the economy, especially after the "Era of Good Feelings." It closed banks, halted trade, spiked unemployment rates, and cut agricultral value by nearly half. It is also considered to be America's first major economic crisis. -
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was caused by speculation ("gambling" of land, railroads, and roads) and "Jacksonian" finance strategies. It caused banks across the country to close, land sales to fall, factories to shut down, and unemployment rate to rise. -
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was caused by unfulfilled loans to banks, The banks had loaned extremely large sums of capital to major companies. Because the profits of these companies never materialized, the loans remained unpaid. There were many riots from umemployed people across the country. -
Failure of Jay Cooke & Commpany
Dubbed as "Black Thursday", the 18th of September of 1873 marked the day that Jay Cooke & Company declared bankruptcy. This triggered a series of bank failures that ultimately led into the Panic of 1873. -
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
This act increased the quantity of silver the government was required to buy. Originally aimed at the purpose of pleasing the poor (and often uneducated) farmers, the act called for such a large amount of silver that costs to mine outweighed profit and drove the price of silver down greatly. Aside from the fact that the act itself cause the economy and the government many problems, it was blamed for being a contributing factor of the Panic of 1893 (bimetalism). -
McKinley Tariff
The Tariff Act of 1890 was a major act of protectionism. Designed to protect American economy from foriegn competition trade influence, it raised raised average duties for imports by 11.5% (from 38% to 49.5%). Because of its command to raise tariffs, it received blame for being another addition in an array of reasons behind the Panic of 1893. -
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was caused by railroad speculation, failed investments, and the selling of stocks from other countries (especially England selling stocks and leaving America to invest in other economies). This panic marked the beginning of a 5 year depression, considered to be the worst in America until the Great Depression. -
Failure of Philadelphia and Reading Railroads
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroads declared bankruptcy on February 23, 1893. This was the biggest case in a major cause of the Panic of 1893: the overbuilding of railroads with expenses unanswered by revenue. -
Panic of 1907
Caused by a chain of businesses that filed for bankruptcy, the Panic of 1907, like most (if not all) other panics in American history, resulted from massive bank runs and decreases in stock market prices. The U.S. Treasury tried to fund some of these banks, but they only allowed the chain of failing businesses to expand, causing more problems for the economy. -
Failure of Knickerbocker Trust and Westinghouse Electric Company
ON October 21, 1907, Knickerbocker Trust in New York City failed. In the same month, the Westinghouse Electric Company failed as well. Besides being major strikes to the economy of their own, the failures sparked the start of the chain of failing businesses throughout the Panic of 1902. -
Black Thursday
Share prices in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) harshly fell. At opening bell, the market lost 11% of its value from extremely heavy trading. -
Great Depression Begins
The Great Depressin was the worst American economic crisis in the 20th century, perhaps in history. Caused by the stock market crash in 1929, the Great Depression put millions out of work and even their homes. This eventually led into riots and an absolutely mad scramble for jobs. This depression lasted until 1947, when Franklin D. Roosevelt's economic recovery efforts began to take major effect. -
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Black Monday
After the NYSE recovered tentatively from Black Thursday, the Dow Jones took another dive, dropping 38 points (or 13%). -
Black Tuesday
More stocks were traded through the heavy hands of investors as the Dow dropped another 30 points, or 12%, that day. Over the span of the 3 "Black" days (Thursday, Monday, and Tuesday), the NYSE lost an estimated total of $30 billion. -
Dust Bowl Begins
The Dust Bowl, which actually had first spottings going back to Novemeber 11, 1933, was a multitude of deadly dust storms from massive amount of topsoil. The Dust Bowl ruined thousands of acres of rich farming land. The decimated plains cost the economy greatly because most of the country's agriculture came from the south. Also, many of the farmers that remained (instead of migrating to California), needed the government's help. -
Recession of 1949
Although it started in Novermber of 1948, the recession lasted until October or 1949 (hence the title: Panic of 1949). Beginning shortly after President Trruman's "Fair Deal" policy, the country's Gross Domestic Product fell 1.7% and the unemployment rate reached 7.9%. World War II is widely considered to be the main cause of the recession. -
Recession of Early 1980's Begins
Following the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, the United States was forced to change their monetary policies due to inflation from the decade before. Since Iran was exporting smaller volumes of oil at inconsistent times, inflation and higher prices for oil in AMerica was inevitable. Throughout the recession, the peak unemployment percentage was 10.8% and the GDP decline was 2.7%. -
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Late 2000's Recession
High oil and food prices, along with a huge mortgage crisis, led to the fall of some of America's largest companies, especially insurance and car companies. These companies included: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, GM, and more, A $700 billion bank bailout and $787 billion fiscal stimulus package served as the government's response to the falling economy. This lasted from December, 2007 to June, 2009. -
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