The panic started when the stock market in Europe crashed and Investors began to sell off the investments they had in American projects, especially the railroads. railway companies had been borrowing money to build new rails through bonds which were debt securities. The Europeans started selling their railroad bonds, When there were soon more bonds for sale than anyone wanted and as a result, the railroad companies could no longer find anyone who would lend them cash and they went bankrupt. Jay Cooke & Company which was one of the biggest banks in New York City went bankrupt since it had invested a lot of money in the railroads. When people saw this they run to their banks demanding all of their money back.
Jay Cooke and Company closed its doors on September 18, 1873, a major economic panic swept the nation. Jay Cooke's firm had been the government's chief financier of the Union military effort during the Civil War<span>.
The new deal expanded governments role in our economy, by giving it the power to regulate previously unregulated areas of commerce. Those primarily being banking, agriculture and housing.
