Panic of 1857

  • 1991 – AP – The Panic of 1857: Origins, Transmission, and Containment, by Charles W. Calomiris and Larry Schweikart, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 51, No. 4 – 28p
  • harpweek.com/09cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=October&Date=24
  • 2016 – AP – The Search For A Balanced Economy: The Origins Of The Mortgage Market And Bank Bailouts, 1913-1939, By Earl Ferdinand Glock – 397p
  • 2019 Fall – Financial History Magazine – Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company: How Oversight and Fraud Contributed to the Panic of 1857, By Ramon Vasconcellos – p22-25

Like a Cannon Shot

The start of the Panic of 1857 is attributed to the closing of a New York City bank owned by the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company on August 24th.

The announcement of the bank failure:

  • “struck on the public mind like a cannon shot.
  • An intense excitement was manifested in all financial circles, in which bank officers participated with unusual sensitiveness and want of self-possession.
  • Flying rumors were exaggerated at every corner.
  • The holders of stock and commercial paper hurried to the broker and were eager to make what a week before they would have shunned as a ruinous sacrifice.
  • Several stock and money dealers failed. . . . Every individual misfortune was announced on the news bulletins in large letters.” (J.S. Gibbons 1858)