The financial Panic of 1873 was sparked on September 18, 1873 by a single meeting with an employee of the Investment Bank of Jay Cooke & Company and two outside bankers. It was just a routine meeting at the bank to raise $1 million in capital. Jay Cooke, the principal, was on vacation with President Grant while the meeting was taking place. The other two bankers refused to invest money with Jay Cooke & Company. This then led the employee to decide to close the bank. Panic gripped Wall Street. The brokers left the exchange, rushing pell-mell over one another in the general confusion, and reached their respective offices in time. … Cornelius Vanderbilt drove his carriage down Broad Street directly into a crowd of people to physically disperse the panic. (Endicott 7). Over one hundred banks closed in three days. Millions of people remained unemployed. This started the worst panic ever seen. Turning to the government didn't help because government policies were making the credit problems worse. Severe economic recession would cause political and social changes that lasted for decades beyond the end of the Depression in 1879. The Panic of 1873 resulted in labor unrest, violent strikes, political upheaval, enormous concentrations of wealth, and desperate migrations to India. -populated parts of the West and ended Reconstruction Era protections for blacks in the South. The U.S. economy had become so co-dependent with the economies of other countries because there was so much overseas investment . It started abroad. The Germans had a period of speculation and tried to reduce changes in inflation. They were raising interest rates to make their currency more valuable... middle of paper... making it impossible for the railroads to borrow money. The railroads were highly indebted and required loans to repay current debts. When Northern Pacific Railroad financier Jay Cooke and Company could no longer borrow money, his investment house closed its doors and caused panic on Wall Street. Nervous investors tried to withdraw their funds from investment houses and banks. Wall Street closed for ten days. Before the crisis was over, nine out of ten railway companies had gone bankrupt. Millions of dollars have been lost due to defaulted debt. Unemployment has reached around 30% in cities. All sectors have been affected, from manufacturing to agriculture. The Panic of 1873 resulted in labor unrest, huge concentrations of wealth, and desperate migrations to Indian-populated western parts, and effectively ended Reconstruction-era protections for blacks in the South..