The 100 Most Important American Financial Crises: An Encyclopedia of the Lowest Points in American Economic History

360 Pages·2014·3.28 MB·English

by  Quentin R. Skrabec Jr.

The 100 Most Important American
Financial Crises
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The 100 Most
Important American
Financial Crises
An Encyclopedia of the
Lowest Points in American
Economic History
Quentin R. Skrabec Jr.
Copyright © 2015 by abC-Clio, llC
all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without
prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skrabec, Quentin R.
The 100 most important american financial crises : an encyclopedia of the lowest points
in american economic history / Quentin R. Skrabec Jr.
pages cm
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSbN 978-1-4408-3011-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — iSbN 978-1-4408-3012-9 (ebook)
1. Financial crises—United States—History. 2. United States—Economic conditions.
3. banks and banking—United States—History. i. Title. ii. Title: The hundred most
important american financial crises.
Hb3722.S58 2015
338.5ʹ42—dc23 2014022053
iSbN: 978-1-4408-3011-2
EiSbN: 978-1-4408-3012-9
19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5
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Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.
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Manufactured in the United States of america
To the Patroness of american Crisis, our lady of Prompt Succor
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Contents
Preface xiii
acknowledgments xv
introduction xvii
1676—bacon’s Rebellion 1
1703—Tobacco Depression 4
1719—Mississippi bubble 6
1733—Molasses act 9
1749—Colonial Hyperinflation and Currency Deflation 12
1750—iron act 15
1762—Colonial Recession 17
1764–1765—Sugar act, Currency act, and Stamp act boycotts 19
1772—Credit Crisis 22
1776—War Financing Crisis 24
1781—Currency Deflation and inflation 28
1790—Debt assumption, Debt Retirement, and Expanding the Economy 31
1792—Panic 33
1794—Whiskey Tax Rebellion 37
1796–1797—Panic 40
1800—Trade interference by barbary Coast Pirates 43
1807—Economic Embargo and Depression 45
1812—War of 1812 48
vii
viii | Contents
1816–1819—Economic Warfare and Dumping by Great britain 51
1819—Panic 53
1820s—Cotton Recession 56
1825—british Panic and its american impact 58
1828—Tariff of abominations 60
1833—andrew Jackson Closes the bank of the United States and
lowers Tariffs 63
1837—Panic and Six-Year Depression 66
1847—Panic 69
1848—Gold Rush boom and bust 71
1850—Whale oil Shortage: The First Energy Crisis 73
1854—Panic 76
1854—Decline of american Canals 78
1857—Panic 81
1861—Civil War Economics, Shortages, and inflation 83
1862—Union blockade and inflation 85
1869—Grant’s Recession 88
1873—Panic and Global Depression 90
1877—Great National Railroad Strike 93
1880s—New England Energy Crisis 96
1882—bessemer Process and the labor Crisis 98
1882—Recession 101
1884—Panic 103
1890—british Panic 105
1893—Panic 107
1894—National labor Unrest 110
1896—Gold Crisis 113
1899—ohio Gas industry Collapse 115
1901—Rich Man’s Panic 117
Contents | ix
1902—National anthracite Coal Strike 119
1907—Panic 122
1910—Rubber Shortage and Price Explosion 125
1914–1918—War Shortages 127
1914—Crisis 129
1917—boll Weevil Cotton Crisis 132
1918—Flu Pandemic 134
1919—National Steel Strike 136
1921—automotive Recession 139
1921—british Rubber Embargo and Monopoly Control 142
1922—Peanut import Crisis 144
1929—Wall Street Crash and Great Depression 146
1930s—agricultural Depression and the Dust bowl 150
1936–1939—labor Uprisings 153
1937–1938—Recession 155
1940s—World War ii Rationing and Shortages 158
1941—Rubber Crisis and Shortage 161
1943—Steel, Metal, and alloy Shortage Crisis 164
1947—Economic Restructuring of america: Taft-Hartley act 166
1947—Mont Pelerin: a Crisis in Economic Thought and academia 169
1959—National Steel Strike 171
1965—auto import Challenge and the Fall of the american
auto industry 173
1969—Technological Tire Crisis: Radial Tire Production Ends
U.S. Rubber Dominance 175
1971—Wage and Price Controls 178
1973—arab oil Embargo Crisis 181
1974—Double-Digit inflation 184
1975—Rapid Deindustrialization 186