The Panic of 1893 was a serious decline in the economy of the United States that began in 1893 and was precipitated in part by a run on the gold supply. The Panic was the worst economic crisis to hit the nation in its history to that point. GOLD refers to one of the following: GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade). ...

Causes

People attempted to redeem silver notes for gold; ultimately the statutory limit for the minimum amount of gold in federal reserves was reached and U.S. Notes could no longer be successfully redeemed for gold. The investments during the time of the Panic were heavily financed through bond issues with high interest payments (the most actively traded stock at the time) and went into receivership as a result of its bankers calling their loans in response to rumors regarding the NCC's financial distress. Notice of closure stuck on the door of a computer store the day after its parent company, Granville Technology Group Ltd, declared bankruptcy (strictly, put into administration - see text) in the UK. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organizations to pay their... NCC can mean several things: National Cadet Corps - Indian student community, somewhat like the World Scout Movement founded by Sir Robert Baden-Powell National Capital Commission, a Canadian federal commission. ...

A series of bank failures followed, and the price of silver fell. The Northern Pacific Railway, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad all failed. This was followed by the bankruptcy of many other companies; in total over 15,000 companies and 500 banks failed (many in the west). About 20%-25% of the workforce was unemployed at the Panic's peak. The Northern Pacific Railway (AAR reporting marks NP) was a railway that operated in the north-central region of the United States. ... The Union Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting marks UP) (NYSE: UNP) is the largest railroad network in the United States. ... Categories: Rail stubs | Defunct railroad companies of the United States | Arizona railroads | California railroads | Colorado railroads | Illinois railroads | Iowa railroads | Kansas railroads | Louisiana railroads | Missouri railroads | Nebraska railroads | New Mexico railroads | Oklahoma railroads | Texas railroads ...

Effects

The severity was great in all industrial cities and mill towns. Farm distress was great because of the falling prices for export crops such as wheat and cotton. Coxey's Army was a highly publicized march of unemployed men from Ohio and Pennsylvania to Washington to demand relief. A severe wave of strikes took place in 1894, most notably the Midwestern bituminous coal strike of the spring, which led to violence in Ohio. Even more serious was the Pullman Strike which shut down much of the nation's transportation system in July, 1894. Marchers leaving their camp Coxeys Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by the populist Jacob Coxey. ... Pullman Strike began on May 11, 1894. ...

The most memorable cultural events were the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. The hard times and utopian dreams that characterized the era were immortalized in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). One-third scale replica of Daniel Chester Frenchs Republic, which stood in the great basin at the exposition, Chicago, 2004 The Worlds Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago Worlds Fair), a Worlds Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher... Most readers in 1900 read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a fairy tale, but cartoonists recognized that Baum and Denslow were using images that editorial cartoonists had long used to portray American politicians. ...

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, perhaps along with the protectionist McKinley Tariff of 1890, have been partially blamed for the panic. Passed in response to a large overproduction of silver by western mines, the Sherman Act required the U.S. Treasury to purchase silver using notes backed by either silver or gold. Politically the Democrats and President Cleveland were blamed for the depression. The Democrats and Populists lost heavily in the 1894 elections, which marked the largest Republican gains in history. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was an 1890 United States federal law. ... The McKinley Tariff of 1890 was what set the average ad valorem tariff rate for imports to the United States at 48. ...

Many of the western silver mines closed, and a large number were never re-opened. A significant number of western mountain narrow-gauge railroads, which had been built to serve the mines, also went out of business. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad stopped its ambitious plan, then under way, to convert its system from narrow-gauge to standard-gauge. Categories: Rail stubs | Defunct railroad companies of the United States | Colorado railroads | New Mexico railroads | Utah railroads ...

The depression was a major issue in the debates over Bimetallism. The Republicans blamed the Democrats and scored a landslide victory in the 1894 state and Congressional elections. The Populists lost most of their strength and had to support the Democrats in 1896. The presidential election of 1896 was fought on economic issues, and was marked by a decisive victory of the pro-gold, high-tariff Republicans led by William McKinley over pro-silver William Jennings Bryan. In economics, bimetallism is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit can be expressed either with a certain amount of gold or with a certain amount of silver: the ratio between the two metals is fixed by law. ... The U.S. House election, 1894 was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1894 which occurred in the middle of President Grover Clevelands second term. ... Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... William McKinley Jr. ... William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, statesman, and politician. ...

The U.S. economy finally began to recover in 1896. After the election of Republican McKinley confidence was restored and the economy began 10 years of rapid growth, until the Panic of 1907. The Panic of 1907 was a financial crisis in the United States. ...

In 1894 the President vetoed an act that would have forced farmers to destroy some of their crop, which would have raised the low prices for wheat and cotton.

See also

• Panic of 1819
• Panic of 1837
• Panic of 1857
• Panic of 1873
• Panic of 1884
• Panic of 1890
• Panic of 1896
• Panic of 1901
• Panic of 1907
• Panic of 1910-1911
• Great Depression
• Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Panic of 1819 was the first major financial crisis in the United States. ... 1840 Whig campaign poster blames Van Buren for hard times The Panic of 1837 was an economic depression, one of the most severe financial crises in the history of the United States. ... The Panic of 1857 was a sudden downturn in the economy of the United States. ... Run on the Fourth National Bank, No. ... The Panic of 1884 was an acute financial crisis associated with a stock market crash caused by speculation. ... The Panic of 1890 was an acute depression that was less serious than other panics of the era precipitated by the near insolvency of the Baring Brothers bank in London due mainly to poor investements in Argentina. ... The Panic of 1896 was an acute depression that was less serious than other panics of the era precipitated by a drop in silver reserves and market concerns on the effects it would have on the gold standard. ... The Panic of 1901 was a stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange caused in part by struggles between E. H. Harriman, Jacob Schiff, and J. P. Morgan/James J. Hill for the financial control of the Northern Pacific Railroad. ... The Panic of 1907 was a financial crisis in the United States. ... The Panic of 1910-1911 was a slight economic depression that followed the enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. ... The Great Depression was a time of economic down turn, which started after the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. ... Most readers in 1900 read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a fairy tale, but cartoonists recognized that Baum and Denslow were using images that editorial cartoonists had long used to portray American politicians. ...

References

Secondary sources

• Barnes, James A. John G. Carlisle: Financial Statesman (1931)
• Barnes, James A. “Myths of the Bryan Campaign.” Mississippi Valley Historical Review 34 (December 1947): 383–94. online at JSTOR
• Destler, Chester McArthur. American Radicalism, 1865–1901 (1966)
• Dewey, Davis Rich. Financial History of the United States (1903)
• Dighe, Ranjit S. ed. The Historian's Wizard of Oz: Reading L. Frank Baum's Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory (2002)
• Dorfman, Joseph Harry. The Economic Mind in American Civilization. (1949). vol 3.
• Faulkner, Harold Underwood. Politics, Reform, and Expansion, 1890–1900. (1959)
• Feder, Leah Hanna. Unemployment Relief in Periods of Depression … 1857-1920 (1926)
• Friedman, Milton, and Anna Jacobson Schwartz. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960(1963).
• Hoffmann, Charles. "The Depression of the Nineties." Journal of Economic History 16 (June 1956): 137–64. online at JSTOR
• Hoffmann, Charles. The Depression of the Nineties: An Economic History (1970).
• Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: 1888-1896 (1971).
• Kirkland, Edward Chase. Industry Comes of Age, 1860–1897 (1961)
• Lauck, William Jett. The Causes of the Panic of 1893 (1907)
• Lindsey, Almont. The Pullman Strike 1942.
• Littlefield, Henry M. "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism" American Quarterly Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring, 1964), pp. 47-58 in JSTOR
• Nevins, Allan. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage. 1932, Pulitzer Prize
• Rezneck, Samuel S. “Unemployment, Unrest, and Relief in the United States during the Depression of 1893–97.” Journal of Political Economy 61 (August 1953): 345. online at JSTOR
• Ritter, Gretchen. Goldbugs and Greenbacks: The Anti-Monopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America (1997)
• Ritter, Gretchen. "Silver slippers and a golden cap: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and historical memory in American politics." Journal of American Studies (August 1997) vol. 31, no. 2, 171-203.
• Rockoff, Hugh. "The 'Wizard of Oz' as a Monetary Allegory," Journal of Political Economy 98 (1990): 739-60 online at JSTOR
• Schwantes, Carlos A. Coxey’s Army: An American Odyssey (1985)
• Shannon, Fred Albert. The Farmer’s Last Frontier: Agriculture, 1860–1897 (1945)
• Steeples, Douglas, and David O. Whitten. Democracy in Desperation: The Depression of 1893 (1998)
• White; Gerald T. The United States and the Problem of Recovery after 1893 1982
• Whitten, David. EH.NET article on the Depression of 1893

The Journal of Political Economy is a academic journal run by economists at the University of Chicago and published every two months. ...

Primary sources

• Appleton’s Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events for the Year (annual 1893-1897).
• Baum, Lyman Frank and W. W. Denslow. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
• Brice, Lloyd Stephens, and James J. Wait. “The Railway Problem.” North American Review 164 (March 1897): 327–48. online at MOA Cornell
• Cleveland, Frederick A. “The Final Report of the Monetary Commission.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 13 (January 1899): 31–56. online at JSTOR
• Closson, Carlos C. Jr. "The Unemployed in American Cities." Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 8, no. 2 (January 1894) 168-217. online at JSTOR
• Closson, Carlos C. Jr. "The Unemployed in American Cities," Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 8, no. 4 (July 1894): 443-477. online at JSTOR
• Fisher, Willard. "‘Coin’ and His Critics." Quarterly Journal of Economics 10 (January 1896): 187–208. online at JSTOR
• Harvey, William H. Coin’s Financial School (1894), 1963 intro. by Richard Hofstadter
• Noyes, Alexander Dana. “The Banks and the Panic.” Political Science Quarterly 9 (March 1894): 12–28. online at JSTOR
• Romer, Christina. "Spurious Volatility in Historical Unemployment Data." Journal of Political Economy 94, no. 1. (1986): 1-37.
• Shaw, Albert. “Relief for the Unemployed in American Cities.” Review of Reviews 9 (January and February 1894): 29–37, 179–91.
• Stevens, Albert Clark. “An Analysis of the Phenomena of the Panic in the United States in 1893.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 8 (January 1894): 117–48. online at JSTOR