Article Text
The Philadelphia, New York, and Boston banks have suspended. This is done only as a matter of prudence, the banks being all fully able to redeem their notes.
7821. Banks in Boston (Boston, MA)
Bank Information
- Episode Type
- Suspension → Reopening
- Bank Type
- state
- Start Date
- December 30, 1861
- Location
- Boston, Massachusetts (42.358, -71.060)
Metadata
- Model
- gpt-5-mini
- Short Digest
e3746509
Response Measures
None
Description
Multiple newspapers report that banks in New York, Philadelphia and Boston suspended specie payments on Dec. 30, 1861, as a precaution while remaining able to redeem notes. The references are to a general suspension (many banks), not a single named institution, so bank identity is uncertain. The suspension was prompted by national wartime financial pressures (heavy loans to the U.S. Treasury and government currency issues), a macro-level shock; contemporary accounts indicate the suspension was 'prudential' and temporary, and these banks later resumed specie payments, so I classify as suspension_reopening.
Events (1)
1.
December 30, 1861
Suspension
- Cause
- Macro News
- Cause Details
- Suspension on Dec. 30, 1861 owing to heavy loans in coin to the U.S. Treasury for Civil War purposes and the government's shift to paper currency; described as a prudential/temporary suspension.
- Newspaper Excerpt
- The banks in New York, Philadelphia and Boston suspended specie payments.
- Source
- newspapers
Newspaper Articles (9)
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Article Text
The banks in New York, Philadelphia and Boston suspended specie pay ments on the 30th ult., and of course, the banks all over the country must do the same. The Government, also, has ceased to pay its notes in specie. Thus in four months after commencing the issue of paper money, it has not only broke down itself, but carried all the banks with it. There is a project now before Congress to allow every company that can raise one hundred thousand dollars in government bonds, to issue their notes endorsed by the government. This will give us plenty of money, such as it is; but to help on the cause, they propose to make their paper a legal tender in payment of debts between all individuals. The Constitution says that the general government may coin money and regulate the value thereof; and that no State shall make anything but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts. But no matter, necessity reigns, and will have his way. The effect of this if carried into effect will be, that those who owe debts will pay them with much less value: while those who live on salaries, or the interest of money, will find their fortunes decreased in proportion to the depreciation of the notes of the banks or the government.
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THIS DATE IN HISTORY. Dec. 30. 1775-Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery was organized. 1804-Port of Havana opened to American vessels. 1829-A congress met at Bogota to frame a constitution for Colombia. 1861-Banks in New York, Boston and other cities suspended specie payment.
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NEXT WEEK IN HISTORY. DECEMBER 26. DECEMBER 30. -Battle of Trenton, N. J. 1851-Lajos (Louis) Kossuth, Hunga-Great fire in New York: famous rian patriot and exile, visited Washington on invitation of Conclipper Great Republic destroyed. gress. -General John A. Logan died; born 1826. 1861-The banks in New York, Philadelphia and Boston suspended speDECEMBER 27. cle payments. 1903-The Iroquois theater burned in -William Wilson Corcoran, WashChicago; 583 lives lost. ington philanthropist, founder of
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G PERIOD OF MILDER WEATHER IS PROMISED US THE WEATHER Rise of Mercury Partly cloudy and probably threatening tonight and Friday; rising temperorted From Points ature. The minimum temperature tonight will be about the freezing point. in the West Temperature at 7 a. m.; 1 below; maximum in 24 hours, 1 below; minimum, 10 below. Precipitation in 24 hours, trace. Wind velocity at 7 a. m., ER SEVERE COLD 8 miles. Relative humidity, last evening 92, this morning 89. J. M. SHERIER, local forecaster. Passes South, Where Dec. 30 In American History. ivers Freeze For First 1851-Lajos (Leuis) Kossuth, Hungarian patriot and exile, visited Time in Years. Washington on invitation of congress. 1861-The banks in New York, Philadelphia and Boston suspended speago, Dec. 30.-With a predicted cie payments. temperature over the entire 1903-The Iroquois theater burned in east of the Rocky mountains Chicago: 583 lives lost. e weather bureau's promise of a eriod of mild weather following ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS. esent cold wave, the Mississippi Sun sets 4:38, rises 7:20: moon rises and northwest experienced a 8:42 p. m.; sun's declination 23 degrees of severe winter weather. 10 minutes south of celestial equator. Seven Below at Chicago.
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Dec. 30 in American History 1851-Lajos (Louis) Kossuth, Hungarian patriot and exile, visited Washington on invitation chalcen Amgress. 1861-The banks in New York, sult etc.A delphia and Boston suspend my, nce. cie payments. 1865-Henry Winter Davis. Maach, statesman and orator, died kidtimore; born 1817. from 1903-The Iroquois theater bu Chicago; 583 lives lost. e All the news all the tim WA Argus.
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this was changed the second year. and Christmas especially was celebrated heartily on both sides of the line. On the 26th W. H. Seward. Lincoln's secretary of state, announced that the Confederate commissioners. Mason and Slidell. who were contined at Fort Warren. would be set free. The news put an end to public agitation over a threatened war with England. This decision had long been awaited. and the people of the north felt relieved. as this problem was settled at last. About this time a project for laying submarine telegraph along the south Atlantic and gulf coasts to connect the Federal army and navy posts was under consideration in Washington. Submarine telegraph was in its infancy. Short stretches were working satisfactorily on both continents. but the long cable under the Atlantic had ceased to transmit soon after it was Jaid in 1858. Cyrus Field's idea was clung to in spite of his failure to conneet America and England with the cable which failed in 1858. Dec. 30 was a day to date from in the finances of the north. The banks in New York. Boston and Philadelphia suspended specie payment owing to heavy loans in coin made to the United States treasury for war purposes. The crisis led to the Issue of United States legal tender notes and fractional currency in denomination from 3 cents up. ward. those under $1 being called "shipplasters." The immediate cause of the suspension was the insistence by the United States treasurer that all the loans made to the government to carry on the war must be paid in coin. Ericsson's Naval Wonder. On the last day of the year the engine and propeller of John Erlesson's fronclad marine wonder were tested in New York and worked satisfactorily. This little vessel afterward became fa.
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The Day in HISTORY DECEMBER 30 IN HISTORY. 1769-Dartmouth College chartered. 1803-Francis Lewis, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Died in New York. Born in Wales in 1713. 1819-Gen. John W. Geary, Governor of Pennsylvania 1866-72, born. Died Feb. 8, 1873. 1853-Louis Kossuth, the famous Hungarian patriot, spoke before the United States Congress. 1853-The Gadsden purchase brought to the United States all of Arizona south of the Gila. 1861-Banks in New York, Boston and other cities suspended payments. 1862-The famous iron-clad Monitor foundered in a gale off Cape Hatteras. 1890-Henry B. Brown of Michigan commissioned associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United Statse. 1903-Six hundred lives lost in fire and panic in the Iroquois Theatre, Chicago. 1912-Balkan states' peace negotations in London threatened with failure.
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Daily History Class-Dec. 30. 1851-Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, exile and former dictator. visited Washington on invitation of the United States congress. 1861-Banks in New York, Philadelphia and Boston suspended specie payments on account of financial stress brought on by the war. 1914 - German aeroplanes dropped bombs on Dunkirk, France.