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| National Archives Photo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
1. 1819 First major peacetime financial crisis in USA followed by a general collapse of the US economy that persisting until 1821. It announced the transition of the nation from its colonial commercial status with Europe toward an independent economy, increasingly characterised by the financial and industrial imperatives of central bank monetary policy, making it susceptible to boom and bust cycles. Driven by global market adjustments in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the severity of the downturn was compounded by excessive speculation in public lands, fuelled by the unrestrained issue of paper money from banks and business concerns.
2. 1825 Stock market crash that started in the Bank of England. It arose in part out of speculative investments in Latin America, including the imaginary country of Poyais. It was felt most acutely in England where it precipitated the closing of six London banks and 60 country banks but was also manifest in the markets of Europe, Latin America and the USA. An infusion of gold reserves from the Banque de France saved the Bank of England from complete collapse. It has been referred to as the first modern economic crisis not attributable to an external event, such as war, and thus the start of modern economic cycles.
3. 1837 Financial crisis in the USA that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices and wages went down; unemployment went up. Pessimism abounded. It had both domestic and foreign origins. Speculative lending practices in western states, a sharp decline in cotton prices, a collapsing land bubble, international specie flows, and restrictive lending policies in the UK were all to blame. On May 10 banks in New York suspended specie payments, meaning that they would no longer redeem commercial paper in specie at full face value. Despite a brief recovery in 1838, the recession persisted approximately seven years.
4. 1847 Minor British banking crisis associated with the end of the 1840s railway industry boom and the failure of many non-banks.
5. 1857 Financial panic in the USA caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the interconnectedness of the world economy by the 1850s, the financial crisis that began in late 1857 was the first worldwide economic crisis. In the UK, Palmerston's government circumvented the requirements of the Peel Banking Act, 1844, which required gold and silver reserves to back up the amount of money in circulation. Surfacing news of this circumvention set off the Panic in the UK.
6. 1873 Triggered a depression in Europe and USA that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries (France, UK). In the UK it started two decades of stagnation known as the "Long Depression" that weakened the country's economic leadership. It was known as the "Great Depression" until the events in the early 1930s set a new standard.
7. 1893 Serious economic depression in the USA that ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy and produced political upheaval that led to the realigning election of 1896 and the presidency of McKinley.
8. 1901 First stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange, caused in part by struggles between E H Harriman, Jacob Schiff and J P Morgan/James J Hill for financial control of Northern Pacific Railway. The stock cornering was orchestrated by James Stillman and William Rockefeller's First National City Bank financed with Standard Oil money. After reaching a compromise, the moguls formed the Northern Securities Company. As a result of the panic thousands of small investors were ruined.
9. 1907 Also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, a US financial crisis that took place over a three-week period starting mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its 1906 peak. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on banks and trust companies. It eventually spread throughout the USA when many state and local banks and businesses entered bankruptcy.
10. 1911 A slight economic depression that followed the enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. It mostly affected the stock market and business traders who were smarting from the activities of trust busters, especially with the breakup of the Standard Oil Company.
