1893年恐慌

1893年恐慌是美国一次严重的经济萧条，始于1893年，於1897年結束。

原因
1893年恐慌的原因之一可以追溯到阿根廷。巴林兄弟银行的阿根廷代理行在阿根廷进行了大笔投资。然而布宜诺斯艾利斯政变使投资无法持续。由于欧洲投资者担心这些问题可能扩散，他们开始向美国财政部挤兑黄金，因为对他们而言将美元投资兑换成可出口的黄金相对容易。 在19世纪七八十年代的镀金时代，美国经历了经济增长和扩张，但大部分扩张依赖高昂的国际大宗商品价格，然而1893年小麦价格暴跌。

问题的第一个明显迹象出现在1893年2月20日， 格罗弗·克利夫兰总统就职典礼前13天。当天费城和雷丁铁路公司的破产接管人得到任命，该公司曾经极大地过度扩张。 上任后，克利夫兰与财政部直接处理危机， 并成功说服国会废除谢尔曼白银采购法案，克利夫兰认为该法案要对这场经济危机负主要责任。

随着对国家经济状况的担忧加剧，人们争相从银行提取存款，造成银行挤兑。信贷紧缩波及整个经济。英国金融恐慌和欧洲贸易下滑导致外国投资者抛售美国股票，以获得以黄金支撑的美国资金。

人民党人
人民党是一个短命的农业平民主义政党，政治上受到西部小麦种植者和南部贫困棉花种植者的欢迎。他们将随之而来的恐慌看作毫无根基的全球金融价值观侵蚀美国传统价值观的证明。历史学家Hasia Diner指出：

白银
自由银币运动兴起，获得了农民的支持（试图刺激经济，引发通货膨胀，从而能够用更廉价的美元偿还债务）
和矿业利益集团（争取将白银纳入货币的权利）。1890年的谢尔曼白银采购法案并未达成自由银币运动的目标，该法案要求美国政府购买数百万盎司的白银，这已超出1878年布兰德-艾利森法案（该法案抬高银价以取悦银矿矿主）的要求。人们试图用白银券赎回黄金。最终美联储的黄金储量达到最低法定限额，美国货币不再能兑换黄金。

影响
这场恐慌导致股价下跌。500家银行关闭，15000家企业破产，众多农场停止运营。失业率在宾夕法尼亚州达到25%，在纽约为35%，在密歇根州是43%。施粥所开放以接济赤贫者。面对饥饿人们砍柴、破岩、缝纫以换取食物。在一些情况下妇女靠卖淫养活家庭。为了救助底特律的民众，市长黑曾·平格利开设了“平格利土豆地”，一种社区农业园。

1890年谢尔曼白银采购法案，可能也包括同年的贸易保护主义麦金莱关税，已被认为是恐慌的部分成因。因为该法案应西部银矿所有者的要求而通过，这些矿主已经过度生产了白银，而法案要求美国财政部用白银或黄金支持的纸币购入白银。民主党人和总统克利夫兰因为萧条备受指责。国库黄金储备也下降至危险水平。这迫使克利夫兰总统向华尔街银行家J.P.摩根和英格兰罗斯柴尔德家族借入价值6500万美元的黄金以支持金本位制。 在随后的1894年大选中民主党和人民党惨败。这次选举是共和党有史以来的最大胜利。

参见
*丹佛1893年萧条

参考文献
扩展阅读
当代来源

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=ar0_AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:annuaL+intitle:CYCLOPEDIA&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1893&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1896&as_brr=1&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false American Annual Cyclopedia...1894 (1895) online]

Baum, Lyman Frank and W. W. Denslow. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* (1900); see Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Brice, Lloyd Stephens, and James J. Wait. “The Railway Problem.” North American Review* 164 (March 1897): 327–48. online at MOA Cornell.
Cleveland, Frederick A. "The Final Report of the Monetary Commission," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science* 13 (January 1899): 31–56 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1009378 in JSTOR]
Closson, Carlos C. Jr. "The Unemployed in American Cities." Quarterly Journal of Economics*, vol. 8, no. 2 (January 1894) 168–217 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1883710 in JSTOR)]; vol. 8, no. 4 (July 1894): 443–477 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1885004 in JSTOR]
Fisher, Willard. "‘Coin’ and His Critics." Quarterly Journal of Economics* 10 (January 1896): 187–208 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1882378 in JSTOR]
Harvey, William H. Coin’s Financial School* (1894), 1963 (Introduction by Richard Hofstadter). [https://books.google.com/books?id=6iYMAQAAIAAJ online first edition]
Noyes, Alexander Dana. "The Banks and the Panic," Political Science Quarterly* 9 (March 1894): 12–28 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2139901 in JSTOR].
Shaw, Albert. "Relief for the Unemployed in American Cities," Review of Reviews* 9 (January and February 1894): 29–37, 179–91.
Stevens, Albert Clark. "An Analysis of the Phenomena of the Panic in the United States in 1893," Quarterly Journal of Economics* 8 (January 1894): 117–48 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1883708 in JSTOR].

次要来源
Barnes, James A. John G. Carlisle: Financial Statesman* (1931).
*
Destler, Chester McArthur. American Radicalism, 1865–1901* (1966).
Dewey, Davis Rich. Financial History of the United States* (1903). [https://books.google.com/books?id=l3oaAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false online].
Dighe, Ranjit S. ed. The Historian's Wizard of Oz: Reading L. Frank Baum's Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory* (2002).
Dorfman, Joseph Harry. The Economic Mind in American Civilization.* (1949). vol 3.
Faulkner, Harold Underwood. Politics, Reform, and Expansion, 1890–1900.* (1959).
Feder, Leah Hanna. Unemployment Relief in Periods of Depression ... 1857–1920* (1926).
Friedman, Milton, and Anna Jacobson Schwartz. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960* (1963).

• Harpine, William D. From the Front Porch to the Front Page: McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential Campaign (2006) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585445592/ excerpt and text search]

*
Hoffmann, Charles. The Depression of the Nineties: An Economic History* (1970).
Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: 1888–1896* (1971).
Josephson, Matthew. The Robber Barons* New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1990).
Kirkland, Edward Chase. Industry Comes of Age, 1860–1897* (1961).
Lauck, William Jett. jays journal The Causes of the Panic of 1893* (1907). [https://books.google.com/books?id=84coAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false online]
Lindsey, Almont. The Pullman Strike* 1942.
*
Nevins, Allan. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage.* 1932, Pulitzer Prize.
*
Ritter, Gretchen. Goldbugs and Greenbacks: The Anti-Monopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America* (1997)
*
*
*
Schwantes, Carlos A. Coxey’s Army: An American Odyssey* (1985).
Shannon, Fred Albert. The Farmer’s Last Frontier: Agriculture, 1860–1897* (1945).
Steeples, Douglas, and David O. Whitten. Democracy in Desperation: The Depression of 1893* (1998).
White; Gerald T. The United States and the Problem of Recovery after 1893* (1982).
*Whitten, David. [http://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-depression-of-1893/ EH.NET article on the Depression of 1893]

• Wicker, Elmus. Banking panics of the gilded age (Cambridge University Press, 2006) [https://web.archive.org/web/20140323075727/http://www.langtoninfo.co.uk/web_content/9780521025478_frontmatter.pdf contents]

外部链接

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101214084202/http://cooperativeindividualism.org/george-henry_causes-of-business-depression.html Causes of the Business Depression] by Henry George; appeared in Once a Week, a New York periodical, March 6, 1894