#panic of 1873

[historysisco]

On This Day in New York City History January 13, 1874: While in the throes of the economic Panic of 1873, the civic group The Committee for Safety in New York City planned to hold a meeting at Tompkins Square Park and a march to City Hall. The committee was trying to get the Mayor William Havemeyer to establish public works programs to aid in relieving those affected by the depression of 1873.

Originally it was an permitted meeting by the Parks Department, but the permit was withdrawn the night before at the request of the Police Department. None of the committee members knew of the revocation of their permit. Over 7,000 people showed up for the meeting. Countering the protestors were over 1,600 police officers which surrounded the park. At roughly 10:15am, the police stormed the park to disperse the protestors, often with brute force via the clubs and truncheons that the police used on the protestors.

The New York Times reported that the police broke up a meeting of communists that was made up of "3,000 persons of the lowest class" among other "malcontents" and others that had "the bad spirit that is unfortunately rife among the more worthless sections of the community."

46 people were arrested and the movement lost its momentum after the riot. While many articles in various newspapers called for action to be levied against the police, no punishment came. On the contrary, the police actions against the citizens of New York and especially political groups and percieved radicals became more intense.

#TompkinsSquareParkRiot #Panicof1873 #PoliceBrutality #EconomicHistory #NewYorkHistory #NYHistory #NYCHistory #AmericanHistory #USHistory #Historia #Histoire #Geschichte #HistorySisco

(at Tompkins Square Park)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnWv9HfuvD1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kaiamar]

Wounded Knee: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

A breakdown of the causes of the Wounded Knee massacre:

Why did the cavalry use excessive force against a group of half-starved Indians? Horrific violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so it helps to look at what was happening in America.  

In 1890, the national census confirmed what many Americans already feared about the country’s demography. A third of the population consisted of Southern and Eastern European immigrants most of whom were Catholic. Adding these darker-skinned Europeans to the Hispanics in Western states and blacks in the South meant America was becoming browner—and less of the white Protestant country it identified as.

By 1890, more Americans were living in cities and working on the factory floor than living in the countryside working on farms, which challenged America’s identity as a society based on agriculture.

Most Americans were also poorer due to the Panic of 1873, a financial meltdown caused by corrupt Wall Street financiers. Indebted farmers screamed for relief from banks. Factory workers struggled to protect their jobs and wages. The Robber Barons of the Gilded Age used some of their obscenely huge profits to hire company thugs to kill union organizers and fixers to ensure politicians didn’t look too closely at their businesses. The Middle Class found their financial and social standing squeezed on all sides. 

The military also had an agenda. By 1890, the Indian Wars were officially over and Congress was threatening to cut military appropriations. The Army needed to prove it was still needed, and a quick round-up of rebellious, non-assimilating Indians was the perfect opportunity. Racism, cultural chauvinism and religious freedom created an American tragedy.

https://www.normashirk.com/history-by-norma/2018/11/25/an-american-tragedy

[mas-y-menos]

Panic!

of 1873

[jamieroxx]

Today in History: Sept 18, 1873 – Panic of 1873: The U.S. bank Jay Cooke & Company declares bankruptcy, triggering a series of bank failures. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873)

[furryalligator]

[liberty1776]

Panic of 1873 by Howard Pyle

Before the Panic of 1873 there was boom in railroad building, like 2008 boom in housing. U.S. government subsidized construction of major railroads: Union Pacific, Central Pacific, and Northern Pacific through land grants and low-interest loans (like it did housing before 2008 panic).

Boom involved U.S. banking system, set up by National Banking Acts of Lincoln Administration. It created money backed by government bonds, (like Fed does today). There was a lot of stock market speculation in which prices soared and bad investments were made. 

When major banks saw danger they slowed growth rate of credit. Led into period of sharp price declines of stocks and other long-term assets accompanied by great difficulty in obtaining credit. Failures of major financial firms occurred (just like in 2007). The Panic of 1873 was a worldwide affair (like panic of 2007-2008), starting with stock-market crash in Vienna, then in Berlin and throughout Europe; and then, three months later, New York Warehouse & Security Company failed, followed by Jay Cooke's firm.

U.S. President, (Grant) did not bail out big banks or try to stimulate economy so all panic of 1873 did was topple bloated banks and railroads into bankruptcy. What happened for everyone else was prosperity!

After 1879 US returned to gold standard (after temporarily using un-backed money in Civil War Era) and had 20 years of economic growth and prosperity. Sound money generates savings and sound investments.

1879-89 most prosperous decade in US History. Big factor was increase in investment in capital by businessmen. Era of deflation. 37% growth in production. Prices fell and employment rose. Lincoln’s high tariff still in effect. Hurt farmers because they had trouble exporting their products. But even most farmers were doing well at this time.

[maroonedoffvesta]

To the leaders of the Republican revolt of 1872, big business offered law and order, greater efficiency of the "business man in politics" and security of salaries and investment. To the insurgent West, it offered combinations which would give lower railway rates, wider and better markets and rising land values. To the South, it offered the withdrawal of the national army and the restoration of political control to property. Before this dominant power the meaning of party designations faded. When the old Democratic party secured a majority in Congress in 1874, the majority sat under the dictatorship of big business. When the Republicans were seated in 1876, the Empire of Industry was completed.

To the student of government who fastens his attention chiefly on politics, the years 1866 to 1876 were years when the power of the national government remained exclusively democratic, with ultimate control in the hands of the mass of citizens who had the right to vote. But the student who realizes that human activity is chiefly exercised in earning a living and, thus, particularly in the present industrial age, the actions of groups and governments have to do mainly with income--this student will see that the Civil War brought anarchy [sic] in the basic economic activities which were gradually hammered and forced into a new and vast monarchy of tremendous power and almost miraculous accomplishment.

--W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America

[furryalligator]

Run on the Fourth National Bank, No. 20 Nassau Street, New York City, 1873. From Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, October 4, 1873.