Black Friday is the name given to the 24 Sep 1869 crash of the gold market, which precipitated a securities panic. The 140th anniversary is a reminder of the episodic nature of economic crashes -- there have been other dark financial days given the name Black Friday. In the United States the anniversary invites a review of all the major crashes for what they reveal about the effectiveness of government interventions at times of financial stress. On Black Friday 1869, government intervention set off the panic.

Financier Jay Gould and railway magnate James Fisk had plotted to corner the gold market and drive up the price of the precious metal. The scheme depended on keeping government gold off the market, which the manipulators arranged through political influence. The administration of President Ulysses S. Grant became aware of the scheme and dumped US $4 million of government gold on the market. It broke the plotters' scheme, but also broke the economy: the price fell in 15 minutes from 162 to 133, and many ortunes were lost. Wall Street brokerage houses failed, railway stocks shrank and the nation's business was paralyzed. The economy remained sick for four years.

And on 19 Sep 1873, bankers Jay Cooke & Co. failed. A great crash ensued in Wall Street, the center of financial operations in America, and the historic panic of 1873 began. Credit generally was impaired and many financial institutions were forced into bankruptcy.

There were other market panics or panics and depressions before the Great Depression of 1929: 1819, 1832, 1836, 1837, 1837-1843, 1857, 1873, 1893, 1893, 1901.