From the Vault: Britain’s secret weapon
Banks played huge roles in the history of war.
From the Vault: The Hamilton-Jefferson bank fight
Refusing to recharter the Bank of the United States is surely in the running for the title of most irresponsible...
From the Vault: When the American banking system almost died
With a vast audience listening, the president said it would be "safer to keep your money in a reopened bank...
Banking and the deal of the century
The new company, named United States Steel, was to be capitalized at a staggering $1.4 billion. The federal revenues that...
From the Vault: How goldsmiths became bankers
When goldsmiths figured out that they could make loans not only on their own assets but also on the gold...
The fall of the ‘House of Cooke’
Jay Cooke was the best known and most prestigious banker in the country. But his weakness was investing in railroads.
Getting the Federal Reserve right, Part One
By John Steele Gordon After J. P. Morgan had stopped the financial panic of 1907 by acting, in effect, as...
How Wall Street Became ‘Wall Street’
By John Steele Gordon As a thoroughfare, Wall Street is unimpressive. Narrow and just six blocks long, it runs between...
The Ghost of Thomas Jefferson
How Jefferson’s skepticism about central banking was woven into the fabric of the U.S. financial regulatory system.
The Ship That Sank the American Banking System
How fragile the American banking system was before the Civil War? The sinking of a single ship in 1857 was...
