The 1792 U.S. financial panic was the Panic of 1792.
The panic developed in the young United States after rapid speculation in securities, including stock in the First Bank of the United States and federal government debt. William Duer and Alexander Macomb helped drive speculative activity, while tight credit and declining confidence left borrowers unable to meet obligations.
The crisis reached New York and Philadelphia in March and April 1792. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton responded by supporting government securities and encouraging banks to provide credit, actions that helped stabilize the financial system.
The episode is closely connected to the Buttonwood Agreement, signed by New York brokers in 1792. That agreement established rules for trading among its signers and is widely regarded as the institutional beginning of the New York Stock Exchange. The agreement itself was not created by the panic, so the crisis and the exchange’s origins are related but separate facts.