Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cliometrics and Antebellum Banking

Handbook of Cliometrics

  • 267 Accesses

Abstract

The three decades before the Civil War in the United States provides a remarkably rich source of informative experiences for the student of banking and finance. The Second Bank of the United States was wound up after the famous “Bank War.” Inflows of gold and silver and banking panics disrupted the financial system. And the states followed a wide array of models when they chartered and regulated banks including the famous free banking laws. This paper describes the evolution of scholarly thinking about this era and the many contributions made by cliometricians.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alhadeff D (1962) A reconsideration of restrictions on bank entry. Q J Econ 76(2):246–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atack J, Jaremski M, Rousseau P (2014) American banking and the transportation revolution before the civil war. J Econ Hist 74(4):943–986

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benmelech E, Moskowitz T (2010) The political economy of financial regulation: evidence from U.S. state usury laws in the 19th century. J Financ 65(3):1029–1073

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H (1992) Capital mobility and financial integration in antebellum America. J Econ Hist 52(3):585–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H (1998) Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? East Econ J 24(1):7–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H (2000) A history of banking in antebellum America: financial markets and economic development in an era of nation-building. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H (2002) Making the little guy pay: payments-system networks, cross-subsidization, and the collapse of the Suffolk system. J Econ Hist 62(1):147–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H (2003) State banking in early America: a new economic history. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H (2006) Bank chartering and political corruption in antebellum New York: free banking as reform. In: Glaeser EL, Goldin C (eds) Corruption and reform: lessons from America’s economic history, pp 231–257

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H (2007) Usury ceilings and Bank lending behavior: evidence from nineteenth century New York. Explor Econ Hist 44(2):179–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H (2008) Free banking and bank entry in nineteenth-century New York. Finan Hist Rev 15(2):175–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H, Haupert M (1995) Was there a note issue conundrum in the free banking era? J Money Credit Bank 27(3):702–712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H, Haupert M (1996) The note issue paradox in the free banking era. J Econ Hist 56(3):687–693

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhorn H, Rockoff H (1992) Regional interest rates in antebellum America. In: Goldin C (ed) Strategic factors in American economic history: a volume to honor Robert W. Fogel. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Briones I, Rockoff H (2005) Do economists reach a conclusion on free-banking episodes. Econ J Watch 2(2):279–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Calomiris C (1990) Is deposit insurance necessary? A historical perspective. J Econ Hist 50(2):283–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calomiris C, Haber H (2014) Fragile by design: the political origins of banking crises and scarce credit. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Calomiris C, Kahn C (1996) The efficiency of self-regulated payments systems: learnings from the Suffolk system. J Money Credit Bank 28(4):766–797

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calomiris C, Schweikart L (1991) The panic of 1857: origins, transmission, and containment. J Econ Hist 51(4):807–834

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter S, Gartner S, Haines M, Olmstead A, Sutch R, Wright G (2006) Historical statistics of the United States, millennial edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Catterall R (1903) The second bank of the United States. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Chabot B, Moul C (2014) Bank panics, government guarantees, and the long-run size of the financial sector: evidence from free-banking America. J Money Credit Bank 46(5):961–997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dove J, Pecquet G, Thies C (2014) The Michigan free Bank experience: wild cat banking or interference with contract? Essays Econ Bus Hist:3247–3279

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwyer G (1996) Wildcat banking, banking panics, and free banking in the United States. Fed Reserve Bank Atlanta Econ Rev 81(3):1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Economopoulos A (1988) Illinois free banking experience. J Money Credit Bank 20(2):249–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Economopoulos A (1990) Free bank failures in New York and Wisconsin: a portfolio analysis. Explor Econ Hist 27(4):421–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Economopoulous A, O’Neill H (1995) Bank entry during the antebellum period. J Money Credit Bank 27(4):1071–1085

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenstermaker JV (1965) The development of American commercial banking, 1782–1837. Kent State University, Kent

    Google Scholar 

  • Fogel R (1964) Railroads and American economic growth: essays in econometric history. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman M, Schwartz A (1963) A monetary history of the United States, 1867–1960. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorton G (1996) Reputation formation in early bank note markets. J Polit Econ 104(2):346–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green G (1972) Finance and economic development in the old south: Louisiana banking, 1804–1861. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenfield R, Rockoff H (1996) Yellowbacks out West and greenbacks Back east: social-choice dimensions of monetary reform. South Econ J 62(4):902–915

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammond B (1948) Banking in the early west: monopoly, prohibition, and laissez faire. J Econ Hist 8(1):1–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammond B (1957) Banks and politics in America from the revolution to the civil war. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasan I, Dwyer G (1994) Bank runs in the free banking period. J Money Credit Bank 26(2):271–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haupert M (1991) Investment in name brand capital: evidence from the free banking era. Am Econ 35(2):73–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Haupert M (1994) New York free banks and the role of reputations. Am Econ 38(2):66–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Helderman L (1931) National and state banks: a study of their origins. Houghton Mifflin, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston J (1987) The panic of 1857 and the coming of the civil war. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge

    Google Scholar 

  • James J, Weiman D (2010) From drafts to checks: the evolution of correspondent banking networks and the formation of the modern U.S. payments system, 1850–1914. J Money Credit Bank 42(2/3):237–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaremski M (2010) Free Bank failures: risky bonds versus undiversified portfolios. J Money Credit Bank 42(8):1565–1587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaremski M (2011) Bank-specific default risk in the pricing of bank note discounts. J Econ Hist 71(4):950–975

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaremski M, Rousseau P (2013) Banks, free banks, and U.S. economic growth. Econ Inq 51(2):1603–1621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jevons W (1863) A serious fall in the value of gold ascertained, and its social effects set forth. Edward Stanford, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn J (1985) Another look at free banking in the United States. Am Econ Rev 75(4):881–885

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly M, O’Gráda C (2000) Market contagion: evidence from the panics of 1854 and 1857. Am Econ Rev 90(5):1110–1124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knodell J (2017) The second bank of the United States: “central” banker in an era of nation-building, 1816–1836. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lake W (1947) The end of the Suffolk system. J Econ Hist 7(2):183–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamoreaux N (1994) Insider lending: banks, personal connections, and economic development in industrial New England. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Macesich G (1960) Sources of monetary disturbances in the United States, 1834–1845. J Econ Hist 20(3):407–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin D (1973) 1853: the end of bimetallism in the United States. J Econ Hist 33(4):825–844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzer A (1967) Major issues in the regulation of financial institutions. J Polit Econ 75(4):482–501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mihm S (2007) A nation of counterfeiters: capitalists, con men, and the making of the United States. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mullineaux D (1987) Competitive monies and the Suffolk Bank system: a contractual perspective. South Econ J 53(4):884–898

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neu ID (1970) Edmond Jean Forstall and Louisiana banking. Explor Econ Hist 7(4):383–398

    Google Scholar 

  • Ng K (1988) Free banking laws and barriers to entry in banking, 1838–1860. J Econ Hist 48(4):877–889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Gráda C, White E (2003) The panics of 1854 and 1857: a view from the emigrant industrial savings Bank. J Econ Hist 63(1):213–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Redlich F (1947) The molding of American banking: men and ideas. Hafner Publishing Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockoff H (1971) Money, prices and banks in the Jacksonian era. In: Fogel RW, Engerman S (eds) Re-interpretation of American economic history. Harper & Row, New York, pp 448–458

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockoff H (1974) The free banking era: a reexamination. J Money Credit Bank 6(2):141–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockoff H (1975a) Varieties of banking and regional economic development in the United States, 1840–1860. J Econ Hist 35(1):160–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockoff H (1975b) The free banking era: a re-examination. Arno Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockoff H (1985) New evidence on free banking in the United States. Am Econ Rev 75(4):886–889

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockoff H (1991) Lessons from the American experience with free banking. In: Capie F, Wood G (eds) Unregulated banking: Chaos or order? Macmillan Academic and Professional Ltd, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockoff H (2009) Prodigals and projectors: an economic history of usury Laws in the United States from colonial times to 1900. In: Eltis D, Lewis FD, Sokoloff KL (eds) Human capital and institutions: a long-run view. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 285–323

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rockoff H (2018) It is always the shadow banks: the regulatory status of the banks that failed and ignited America’s greatest financial panics. In: Rockoff H, Suto I (eds) Coping with financial crises: some lessons from economic history. Springer Nature, Singapore, pp 77–106

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rolnick A, Weber W (1982) Free banking, wildcat banking, and shinplasters. Fed Reserve Bank Minneap Q Rev 6:10–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolnick A, Weber W (1983) New evidence on the free banking era. Am Econ Rev 73(5):1080–1091

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolnick A, Weber W (1984) The causes of free bank failures: a detailed examination. J Monet Econ 14(3):267–291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rolnick AJ, Smith BD, Weber WE (1998) Lessons from a laissez-faire payments system: the Suffolk banking system (1825–58). Fed Reserve Bank Minneap Q Rev 22(3):11–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau P (2002) Jacksonian monetary policy, specie flows, and the panic of 1837. J Econ Hist 62(2):457–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau P, Sylla R (2005) Emerging financial markets and early US growth. Explor Econ Hist 42(1):1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz AJ (1947) The beginning of competitive banking in Philadelphia, 1782–1809. J Polit Econ 55(5):417–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selgin G, White L (1994) How would the invisible hand handle money? J Econ Lit 32(4):1718–1749

    Google Scholar 

  • Shambaugh J (2006) An experiment with multiple currencies: the American monetary system from 1838–60. Explor Econ Hist 43(4):609–645

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith A (1966) George Smith’s money: a Scottish investor in America. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith B, Weber W (1999) Private money creation and the Suffolk banking system. J Money Credit Bank 31(3):624–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens E (1971) Composition of the money stock prior to the civil war. J Money Credit Bank 3(1):84–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sylla R (1976) Forgotten men of money: private bankers in early U.S. history. J Econ Hist 36(1):173–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sylla R, Legler J, Wallis J (1987) Banks and state public finance in the new republic: the United States, 1790–1860. J Econ Hist 47(2):391–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Temin P (1968) The economic consequences of the bank war. J Polit Econ 76(2):257–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Temin P (1969) The Jacksonian economy. W. W. Norton & Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Temin P (1974) The Anglo-American business cycle, 1820–60. Econ Hist Rev 27(2):207–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobin J (1967) Major issues in the regulation of financial institutions: comment. J Polit Econ 75(4):508–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallis J (2001) What caused the crisis of 1839? NBER working paper series on historical factors in long run growth. NBER historical working paper No. 133, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiman D, James J (2007) The political economy of the US monetary union: the civil war era as a watershed. Am Econ Rev 97(2):271–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Hugh Rockoff

Authors
  1. Hugh Rockoff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hugh Rockoff .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. BETA/CNRS (UMR 7522), University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    Claude Diebolt

  2. University of Wisconsin Department of Economics, La Crosse, WI, USA

    Michael Haupert

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Rockoff, H. (2019). Cliometrics and Antebellum Banking. In: Diebolt, C., Haupert, M. (eds) Handbook of Cliometrics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_59-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_59-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40458-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-40458-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Cliometrics and Antebellum Banking
    Published:
    09 August 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_59-2

  2. Original

    Cliometrics and Antebellum Banking
    Published:
    24 January 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_59-1

Search

Navigation