Throughout the nineteenth century American citizens lived with the constant fear of impending collapse and panic delivered by the banking exchange system. The finical system had proven its precariousness, through the numerous busts, panics and financial depressions of the nineteenth century. The idea of a financial panic had become engrained into the mind of many citizens, who were at the mercy of the banking system, and its unforeseeable failures. This idea of looming failure created a mentality and culture that grew out of the anxiety of going bust.
In 1819 what many would describe as an unforeseeable panic struck the American finical system. This would prove to be a recurring theme throughout the century. “Panic returned in 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893;”(pg22) During the century the word panic represented a unforgiving path which the American financial system was walking along with the overwhelming anxiety and mania that it provided the public. The scope of these panics was was from, “Wall Street to the muddiest rural lane”(pg24) and all sorts of people were affected by this issue. These undeveloped regions were also affected due to the fact that the financial market was tied to many of the ventures on the nations frontier. Essentially every faucet of American life was affected by these reoccurring panics and in turn, created internal struggle for many Americans who were forced to make many changes in order to survive these times of great economic uncertainty. These changes spurred along by wide spread economic strife created great shifts in language and how people conducted business.
“The go ahead principle” became embedded in the minds of many Americans during the age of panics. These boom and bust market created an environment that benefitted those who were ambitious and daring. However, during this age of panics most of the time, it did not matter wether you were smart, daring, ambitious or lucky almost every was hit hard by these economic catastrophes. People saw the panics, “one of those things in nature… which may be felt, but can neither be traced or followed,” (pg23) these panics always came as surprise to people. “Circumstances & the state of the country (sic) bewildered and disappointed the calculations of everyone.” (pg24) This was because the panics were typically created by banking practices that lacked any forethought. In the panic of 1819 The second bank of the United States, “called in loans and hard money.” leaving many business owners without capital and unable to run their business. For too many failure ensued the panic.
This era of panic represented a time of financial chaos in America, not very different from 2008 and the crash of the housing market. It is incredible that these morally dubious banking practices that lead to crashes back in 1819 are still the reason for these crashes in our modern world.
Dirty Dealings: The Margins of American Capitalism in the Nineteenth Century 