Economic history of the United States
Panic of 1873 created one of the worst and longest depressions in American history, seriously affecting every aspect of the economy and bringing the railroad expansion to a halt. The New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days. Of the country's 364 railroads, 89 went bankrupt, a total of 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875, unemployment reached 14% by 1876, during a time which became known in Britain as the Long Depression. Politically, the Democrats took control of Congress in 1874, the election of 1876 was deadlocked.
The Living New Deal
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, America was in the depths of the Great Depression. The stock market crash of 1929 led the implosion and the downturn continued for over three years as thousands of banks and businesses failed and millions of people lost their life savings, farms, and homes. At the nadir, one-quarter of the U.S. workforce was unemployed and national output had fallen by one-third.