7580. Banks of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type: state
Start Date: May 30, 1837
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana (29.955, -90.075)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 61242c7d

Response Measures

None

Description

The articles describe city-wide suspensions of specie payments by the Banks of New Orleans (initial suspension May 1837 and renewed suspension Oct 1839) tied to broader banking crises. No specific depositor run on an individual bank is described; articles also record a 1838 resolution to resume on the first Monday in January (planned resumption). Sequence: suspensions during the panic(s) with plans/efforts toward resumption — best classified as suspension with eventual reopening (or at least attempts to resume). Cause for suspensions is systemic/macro banking panic.

Events (3)

1. May 30, 1837 Suspension

Cause: Macro News
Cause Details: Part of the nationwide banking panic and failures (systemic banking crisis in 1837); suspension occurred with other northern and southern banks during the panic of 1837.
Newspaper Excerpt: The banks of N. Orleans suspended Specie payments on the 30th of May 1837
Source: newspapers

2. January 1, 1839 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: the Banks of New Orleans have come to the determination to resume specie payments on the first of January next (resolution reported June 1838 to set that date).
Source: newspapers

3. October 1, 1839* Suspension

Cause: Macro News
Cause Details: October 1839 suspension described as tied to wider banking disturbances and 'the great banking bubble' that burst; specifically noted as following suspensions in Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore.
Newspaper Excerpt: the Banks of New Orleans have suspended specie payment
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (9)

1. February 28, 1838 Morning Herald New York, NY

Article from Morning Herald, February 28, 1838

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MONEY MARKET. Tuesday, Feb. 27--6,1 P. M. The exchange market, for the packets of the 1st, opened today. There was considerable inquiry, but few sales. The closing rates for England, by last packets, were 107. The probability is that a slight advance, perhaps 107₫, may take place for the next. The market is somewhat bare of southern exchange, and should the Express Mail of this evening bring no fresh supply to band, it may rise to 1071 or 1673. A good deal will depend on unforment contingencies. Two of the Wall street banks are only drawing-but it is certain that a large portion et southern exchange has yet to come to market, 04 account of the banks and individuals. One of the class of circumstances leading to the belief, that 2 supply of southern excharge may be expected ev. ery moment, is the settlement of the bank question by the legtislature of Louisiana. On the 17th instant, the legis. lature of that State passed through both houses the law to regulate the issues and conduct of the banks. There is a good deal of conflicting opinion on the expected operation of this law, but from the very fact that opinions differ, it may be pre sumed to possess some good points. As far as we can understand these accounts, a portion of the New Orleans banks is permitted to extend their leams-another portion must contract them. This course growsout of the position in which the new law finds the banks. Since the suspension of specie payments the banks of New Orleans have been divided into two interests; one class pursuing the policy of curtailment, the other that of expassion as far they could. The French banks generally have been contracting-the American banks expanding. The effect of the new law is to curtail the latter-and give power to the former. One portion of business men, therefore, feel a pressure and a panic,-whil another will be relieved. This is the situation of financial affairs in New Orleans The very settlement of the bank question is a great point gained. We anticipate, therefore, a renewed, though mode rate activity in the cotton market, especially in that portion of it which is connected with Havre. From these circumstances, fresh cotton bills may be expected in this market-and if so, the probability is, that the price of exchange on France will not vary much by this or the next packets. In the banking and financial affairs of Pennsylvania, there is also a speck of coercion in the legislature towards the banks. Astrong feeling is said to exist in that body, calculated to compel their banks to resume in May next. As this feeling also embraces the resumption el the United States Bank, it is possible that a strong opposition will be made to such a course from the city of Philadelphia.From varions sources we have nscertained it to be the deliberate opinion of Mr. Biddle, that a general resumption of specie payments cannot take place in this country for two years to come, and that to make even the movement, when it does take place, permanent, it must be accompanied with the favorable action of the general government, in the shape of a new national bank, or the reception of all public duesia the currency of the day. There will be a great con flict in Pennsylvania on this very question. In this part of the country, the same conflict is growing and widening. Boston is in a fever. The banks and the merchants are at issue on the policy necessary for the occasion and the time. Mr. P. P. F. Degrand, and a public meeting, have taken a ground somewhat resembling that assumed by Mr. Biddle. The conflict goes on, and we have yet to see its final issue. Meantime the statements of the banks crowd upon us. The following we have inst received -

2. June 26, 1838 Richmond Enquirer Richmond, VA

Article from Richmond Enquirer, June 26, 1838

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Resumption -The Presidents of the Banks of New Orleans held a meeting on the 16th instant -They resolved, "that in the opinion of the board of Presidents of the Banks of New Orleans, the first Monday in January next, should be fixed on as the time of general resumption by said Banks; provided the U. S. Bank of Pennsylvania, through its agency in this city, will furnish a general currency until the establishment of a National Bank; or until such other remedial measures be adopted or sustained by the Government in relation to the currency, as will ensure the country and the banks against the deplorable consequences of a second suspension of specie payments by the Government and the banks. "Be it further Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to correspond with the President of the Bank of the U. S. of Pennsylvania on this subject: said committee to report to this board the result as soon as practicable. "Be it further Resolved, That these resolutions be submitted to the direction of all the banks of this city for their consideration and concurrence."

3. October 4, 1838 Litchfield Enquirer Litchfield, CT

Article from Litchfield Enquirer, October 4, 1838

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# "GREAT REACTIONS." This was to be the great cry through the lokey news- papers of this State in respect to the fall elections, which the lokeys claimed were to result in their favor, and have an effect upon those which are to take place in New York next month. So far as regards old Litch- field, let them boast if they see cause. Last fall she gave a considerable Loco majority. Now she has given a healthy Whig majority. In the spring, with 850 voters, she gave 56 majority for the Whig Repre- sentative. Now she has given 57 Whig majority with only 680 voters. Had all the freemen come up to "the scratch," we have no doubt the majority would have been increased. We have as yet heard no returns from any of the towns in this county where a close contest was expected except Sharon, in part. The vote there stood-for Moderator, C. F. Sedgwick, (whig) 115- R. Deming, (loco) 105. For first Assessor, whig 114 -loco 102. Good so far! Plymouth, whig, by about 50 majority-Torrington, and Goshen, do. by the usual majority. New Milford, also small whig majority-Waterbury, do. by about 140. Washington, Warren, and Cornwall, loco, by small majorities. Having been engaged the latter part of the past and Monday of this week, in preparing for and attend- ing Town Meeting, and being rather short of help just now, we have had time to attend to little else than the mechanical part of this paper-especially as we are obliged to put the paper to press nearly a day in ad- vance of its regular time of publication, in order to af- ford our boys and ourselves a look at the soldiers in the Regimental Review. The Banks of New-Orleans have come to the de- termination to resume specie payments on the first of January next. They have arrived at this determina- tion after a correspondence with Mr. Biddle's Bank of the United States, in which Mr. Biddle promises to use his influence in granting them the necessary co- operation and assistance to enable them successfully to continue their operations. # THE LAST EFFORT UPON THE CURRENCY.-Case of J. M. L. & W. H. Scoville. The Grand Jury of the U. S. District Court of Connecticut have found a Bill against these gentlemen for the manufacturing of the copper pieces, "not one cent," which were in circula- tion, after the repeated experiments of the Govern- ment upon the currency had brought about a suspen- sion of specie payments. The manufacturers of these pieces live in Waterbury, Conn., and the copper pieces they made, were made to order, and sold as merchandize-and never as coin, as the "not one cent" purports. The Public at that time demanded almost any thing for circulation, which would be taken by common consent, as these pieces were: and so great was the necessity for a circulating medium, that not only Shin Plaasters of all kinds were in demand, -but even bad bills became current. No party felt the necessity of resorting to new modes of doing busi- ness more than the Government, for the Secretary of the Treasury was in the constant habit of drawing drafts upon banks where he had no funds, and then using the protested drafts as currency. The Government having become somewhat at ease by its liberal use of Treasury Notes, and the aid of the Pennsylvania U. S. Bank, has been casting for a victim to venge its spite upon, and it thinks it has found one in the Messrs. Scoville, of Waterbury. When we remember, that the U. S. Marshal in Con- necticut, generally takes the occasion of the meeting of the U. S. District Court to procure a convocation of Loco Foco leading Partisans under the pay of the Go- vernment, as Jurymen, or witnesses, or something else, this Bill, thus found, at this late hour of the day, is not at all remarkable. On this Jury, for example, we are told, was the Collector of New Haven, with other warm partisans, who have just discovered the law to have been violated in the manufacture of tok- ens, or counters, as merchandise to order. We are very glad that the time has passed when there was any call for such a currency-but the Government ought to be very lenient, even to real offenders-when for ten or twelve months it resorted to all sorts of mal- practices to raise the wind to pay the ordinary expen- ses of its officers.-N. Y. Express.

4. October 26, 1839 Piney Woods Planter Liberty, MS

Article from Piney Woods Planter, October 26, 1839

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ASTOUNDING INTELLIGENCE.-The great banking bubble that has been inflated by cupidity, avarice and mercenary duplicity. and borne on a condensed atmosphere of credulity, has BURST The banks, it is positively stated, of Philadelphia, have all suspended specie payments on the 10th inst. So have the banks of New York and Baltimore. New Orleans has followed the example. The bankites are in a glorious state of confusion, and the community involved in distress. The great regulator with all his boasted strength, has squatted with the rest.

5. October 30, 1839 State Rights and Democratic Union Yazoo City, MS

Article from State Rights and Democratic Union, October 30, 1839

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# SUSPENSION OF SPECIE PAYMENT BY THE BANKS OF N. ORLEANS. It appears from our last accounts that the Banks of New Orleans have suspended specie payment. There is also a rumor afloat that the U. S. Bank of Pennsylvania, as well as the principal banks of the north have suspended. We cannot attribute this untoward state of affairs to any particular project. But consider it, as a mean hoax, to defraud the public, and bolster up a set of fraudulent in-solvent institutions. Banks, have in these days of want and necessity lost their utility—they have become the mere creatures of usuary and peculation—thrown into the management of a set of men who take their station and standing, from the mercenary passion of a few adventurers. Sometime since the government was called upon and blamed for the general suspension—ignorant de claimers, and would be well-read politicians published such things—but the fact is, they knew no more about the circumstance than their own prejudicial feelings suggested. It is a pity, that fine apparel, a little money, and boasting, boisterous phrases of men, can rule the better judgment of a community, who if left to their own reflection, would settle down to that reason common sense dictates. In pursuing such a course, and in being lead by the smile or influence of any set of men, we show ourselves the worst kind of

6. November 9, 1839 Maumee City Express Maumee City, Maumee, OH

Article from Maumee City Express, November 9, 1839

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The Banks of New Orleans resolved, on the 19th ult., to suspend specie payments, until the Northern banks shall resume, and to publish monthly statements of their concerns.

7. February 11, 1840 Morning Herald New York, NY

Article from Morning Herald, February 11, 1840

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ciation carried down the houses engaged in it, and the New Orleans papers contain a report of the failure of many cotton houses, and the correspondent of the New York Courier gives the following as the names of those that failed on the 27th ult. Taylor, Gardiner, & Co., W. M. Beall, Christopher Adams, Prescott, Jones, & Co., J. Irwin, M. Denton. The aggregate of their failures is put down at from 1 to $1,500,000. The position of these houses is very similar now to that occupied by the same trade in 1837. The general revulsion in the currency at that time, caused by an excess of imports, stimulated by the over issues of the banks, depreciated cotton to such an extent as to cause a general explosion of the cotton houses. The result was a protest of all the bills drawn by the river banks on N. O. These were then all converted into a suspended debt, and suspension was applied as the remedy until future crops should furnish the means of settlement. The interposition of the U. S. Bank at that time to sustain prices was favored by the state of the manufacturing districts in England, which continued throughout the year 1833 in a most prosperous condition. Although the money price of the cotton continued high, by these means the actual value to the planter was lower than ever, by reason of the enhanced price of all sorts of supplies. Yet the price of cotton continued to advance, and speculation, based upon bank facilities that were stimulated by the ease with which loans on state stocks were negotiated in Europe, continued to run wild, and prices did not reach their maximum until May, 1839. At that time, the revulsion in England, caused by a short crop of corn, began first to take effect, and the price of cotton could not be sustained. From that time, the above table of prices shows a gradual decline up to the commencement of the cotton year in October. Prices were then 33½ per cent less than in May; but as most of the stock had been disposed of at high prices, the effects of the decline were not so apparent. When prices had reached this low rate, it was imagined by the speculators that it was a favorable time to commence ope-rating, and many houses advanced largely. At that time, how-ever, the depreciation in every description of property, and the stagnation of the markets in Europe began to produce their ef-fects, and the U. S. Bank failed. By this event the chief prop was knocked from under the cotton operators, and united with the financial movements of the Federal Government, prices have continued to recede—the banks of New Orleans, finding that although they had suspended, public opinion would not warrant a pursuance of the old course of extension. The bank table, therefore, evinces a heavy curtailment of loans. The firm position of the New York banks, has operated to bring every thing down to their standard; at the same time, the very ele-ments seem to have conspired to produce the same results, in the abundance of the products of the earth. The following is a table of the arrivals and exports of cotton at New Orleans, for a series of years from October to February of each year, with the extreme prices current in February:

8. May 18, 1840 Morning Herald New York, NY

Article from Morning Herald, May 18, 1840

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against their Northern funds to supply dealers and travel-lers with the means of remittance, they refuse to sell bills and use the funds in buying up their own paper at a discount of 10 per cent. and upwards. There is no wonder that suspension is profitable to them under such circumstances. The Legislature of Georgia, during their recent session, made themselves ridiculous in more than one instance. They first tolerated roguery, in the shape of suspension, and then, to satisfy the clamors of the people, passed a law that the banks should not sell exchanges at less than 2 per ct. This was judged an admirable contrivance; but its operation was, that the banks would not sell at all, but used every means to depreciate their paper, and then sent agents to this city to buy it up at 10 or 11 per ct. discount We are aware of one instance where the agent of a Georgia bank received a severe reprimand from his principals for not buying their money cheap enough. This was the natural result of ridiculous legislation. The banks being countenanced in cheating the people, of course would not scruple to evade the laws. The same facts are true not only of the Georgia banks, but of most of the Southern States. Mobile and New Orleans are particularly obnoxious to these charges. We have seen numerous letters from high authorities in New Orleans, which state that the banks of that city could and would resume instantly, were it not for the profits they make out of this nefarious traffic in their own paper. # BANKS OF NEW ORLEANS ON THE 4TH MAY, AS COMPARED

9. August 28, 1842 The New York Herald New York, NY

Article from The New York Herald, August 28, 1842

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# MONEY MARKET. Saturday, August 27-6 P. M. We remark no new features in the stock market to-day. Sales were as usual moderate. Long Island fell ½; Canton rose ½; Mohawk ¼. That thebanks of N. Orleans have broken down beneath the abominable curruption and mismanagement under which they have labored, is no cause of surpsise. A few individuals have been enabled by exerting a malign influence in the State Legislature, to procure a loan of the State credit to establish banks for their own particular benefit. The banks of New Orleans suspended Specie payments on the 30th of May 1837-and in Dec. 1837, a whig Legislature convened, and through its joint committees, required of each of the Banks statements under the oaths of the Presidents and Cashiers, [among other things] of the capitals paid in each bank-of the discounts of each bank to its own directors, with their names-of the discounts of each, to all directors-of the whole discounts to all persons-of the circulation and deposits of each-and of the specie in each one of their vaults. The banks accordingly made their returns, under eath- and the same were published in pamplet form in 1833, "by the order of the Legislature," under the title of "Documents relative to the Banks of New Orleans," and distributed through the State. In 1840, under a like requisition from a whig Legislature the Presidents and Cashiers of the several banks, made their returns under oaths, to the Legislature, of their annual expenses, and these returns were afterwards [in 1840] "by order of the Legislature," published at the office of Messrs. Bullitt, Magne & Co. [State Printers,] under the title of "Documents, &c. relative to the investigation of the Banks &c., and likewise distributed through the State. From these data, the following table has been made out, and the astounding results are submitted to the contemplation of the people, that they may judge whether their present distresses are not mainly attributable, to the gross mismanagement of the Banks by the Directors thereof-and of the subserviency and inertness of Legislatures for five years, in bringing them all to a just accountability, and requiring the enforcement of their chartered obligations.