The World in 1857 the year the banks ran out of gold

Money was whatever your bank said it was. Hundreds of American banks printed their own notes, and shopkeepers kept a book showing which ones were worth face value and which were worth sixty cents on the dollar. Behind every note sat a promise of gold in the vault. In the autumn of the panic too many people asked for that gold at once, and the banks stopped paying.

The year in 8 events

New York set aside 843 acres of rock and swamp in the middle of Manhattan for a park. About 1,600 people lived there, including the Black families of Seneca Village, and all were moved off.

• 📜Feb 5 Mexico adopts a constitution that takes land and courts away from the church.
• ⚖️Mar 6 The Supreme Court rules against Dred Scott and says Black Americans cannot be citizens.
• 🛗Mar 23 Elisha Otis puts his first passenger elevator into a New York shop.
• 🔥May 10 Indian soldiers at Meerut turn on their officers, and the revolt spreads across northern India.
• 🏦Aug 24 An Ohio bank collapses in New York and the Panic of 1857 begins.
• 💍Aug 28 England gets its first divorce court. Until now ending a marriage took an act of Parliament.
• ⚔️Sep 20 British and loyal Indian troops retake Delhi after a siege of three months.
• ⚽Oct 24 Sheffield Football Club is founded, the oldest football club still playing.

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