The 1792 U.S. financial panic was called the Panic of 1792.
The panic developed soon after the creation of the new United States financial system. Speculator William Duer and others borrowed heavily to trade securities, especially bank shares and government debt. When lenders demanded repayment, forced selling spread through New York and Philadelphia.
Alexander Hamilton, the Treasury secretary, responded by arranging government purchases of securities and encouraging banks to provide liquidity. His intervention helped prevent a deeper collapse, although prices had already fallen sharply and many speculators failed.
The episode encouraged merchants and brokers in New York to formalize their trading arrangements. The Buttonwood Agreement, signed in 1792, is widely treated as an important foundation of the organization that later became the New York Stock Exchange.