Cliometrics and Antebellum Banking

The three decades before the Civil War in the United States provide a remarkably rich source of informative experiences for the student of banking and finance. The Second Bank of the United States was wound up after the famous “Bank War.” Inflows of gold and silver and banking panics disrupted the financial system. In addition, the states followed a wide array of models when they chartered banks including the famous free banking laws. This chapter describes the evolution of scholarly thinking about this era and the many contributions made by cliometricians.