Panic of 1857

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The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was the first financial crisis to spread rapidly throughout the United States. The world economy was more interconnected by the 1850s, which made the Panic of 1857 the first worldwide economic crisis. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the First Palmerston ministry circumvented the requirements of the Bank Charter 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 Britain. Beginning in September 1857, the financial downturn did not last long, but a proper recovery was delayed until the onset of the American Civil War in 1861. The sinking of SS Central America in September 1857 contributed to the panic, because New York City banks were...

Read on Wikipedia · Image James H. Cafferty (1819–1869) and Charles G. Rosenberg, Public domain