On the Crises of i8s7, 1S47, and 1857 



17 



cular immediatel)' caused suffering in the United States and drew 

 gold from Europe. Here it would seem we have located a most 

 natural starting point. There were evidences of an impending 

 crisis immediately upon the issuance of the specie circular. Fur- 

 thermore, there were no short-time causes sufficient to bring on 

 a crisis in operation in England at that time; the crop failures 

 did not come until two or three years later. 



Commadiij/ ^rtce\ 



•in 



O ngland. 



In France the movement was simultaneous with that in Eng- 

 land, and it is probable that both countries alike were affected 

 considerably by the drain of gold from Europe to the United 

 States. The crisis in France, however, as mentioned before, was 

 much less severe than in England. The most significant occasion, 

 perhaps, was the superfluity of. literary companies. 



In the United States poor crops prevailed in 1834-35, while 

 for these same years there were good harvests in Europe.^ But 

 besides bad crops there were other conditions favorable to a crisis. 

 In addition to the great increase in the number of banks, which 

 we observed in our study of the permanent environmental 

 changes, there was the further fact that they were doing business 

 on a decidedly unsound basis. In the United States Bank, sup- 



' Dewey, Fina^icial History of the United States, 233. 



159 



