The 1907 U.S. financial panic was called the Panic of 1907.
The crisis began after an unsuccessful attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company. When the scheme failed, depositors rushed to withdraw funds from banks and trust companies connected to the speculators. The panic spread through New York’s financial system and threatened broader economic stability.
J. P. Morgan organized private support for troubled institutions and helped coordinate emergency lending. His intervention highlighted the weakness of relying on a single private financier as a lender of last resort.
The panic helped motivate monetary reform. The Aldrich–Vreeland Act of 1908 created a temporary emergency currency system and established the National Monetary Commission. Its work contributed to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created the Federal Reserve System. The Fed therefore followed the panic, rather than existing to prevent it.