The 1792 U.S. financial crisis involving speculation by William Duer and Alexander Macomb was the Panic of 1792.
The crisis was one of the first major financial panics in the newly formed United States. Speculators borrowed heavily to buy securities connected with government debt, helping drive prices upward. When confidence weakened, borrowers could not meet their obligations, and selling spread through financial markets.
Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton responded by supplying liquidity and encouraging banks to support the market. His intervention helped stop the panic and demonstrated the federal government's emerging role in financial stability.
The Panic of 1792 is sometimes confused with the later Panic of 1819, which was driven by postwar credit contraction and falling commodity prices. The 1792 episode occurred only a few years after the U.S. Constitution took effect.