The 1792 U.S. financial panic that followed speculation in bank shares and government securities was called the Panic of 1792.
The episode developed in the young United States during a period of intense speculation in securities. William Duer and Alexander Macomb borrowed heavily to speculate in government debt and bank shares, while broker activity helped push prices upward. When confidence broke, borrowers could not meet their obligations.
The resulting market turmoil spread through New York and Philadelphia. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton responded by purchasing government securities and encouraging banks to provide credit, actions intended to restore liquidity and confidence. His intervention is often described as an early example of central-bank-style crisis management, although the Federal Reserve did not yet exist.
The panic led to the creation of the Buttonwood Agreement’s more formal successor, the New York Stock and Exchange Board, in 1817. The 1792 episode is sometimes overlooked because the U.S. financial system was still new, but it established an important pattern: leverage, falling prices, and forced sales can rapidly amplify a market shock.