The first major U.S. stock-market crash, which struck in March 1792, was the Panic of 1792.
The panic developed after heavy speculation in securities issued by the newly established Bank of the United States and the federal government. Speculators William Duer and Alexander Macomb borrowed extensively to buy securities, helping drive prices upward before their inability to repay loans triggered a collapse.
The crisis threatened banks and merchants in New York and Philadelphia. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton responded by encouraging banks to provide liquidity and by arranging government purchases of securities. His actions helped contain the panic and are an early example of emergency financial stabilization in the United States.
The Panic of 1792 is sometimes confused with later American panics, especially the Panic of 1819, which was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States. The 1792 episode occurred only a few years after the U.S. Constitution created the federal government and national financial institutions.