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Black Friday |
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Black Friday, Sept. 24, 1869, in U.S. history, day of financial panic. In 1869 a small group of American financial speculators, including Jay Gould Gould, Jay, 1836–92, American speculator, b. Delaware co., N.Y. A country-store clerk and surveyor's assistant, he rose to control half the railroad mileage in the Southwest, New York City's elevated railroads, and the Western Union Telegraph Company. ..... Click the link for more information. and James Fisk Fisk, James, 1834–72, American financial speculator, b. Pownal, Vt. In his youth he worked for a circus and as a wagon peddler of merchandise. During the Civil War he became wealthy purchasing cotton in occupied areas of the South for Northern firms and selling ..... Click the link for more information. , sought the support of federal officials of the Grant administration in a drive to corner the gold market. The attempt failed when government gold was released for sale. The drive culminated on a Friday, when thousands were ruined—the day is popularly called Black Friday. There was great indignation against the perpetrators. Several other days of financial panic have also been occasionally referred to as Black Friday. Black FridayDay (Sept. 24, 1869) when plunging gold prices precipitated a U.S. stock-market panic. An attempt by Jay Gould and James Fisk to corner the market in gold and drive up its price depended on preventing the sale of government gold, an arrangement assured through the two men's political influence. When Pres. Ulysses S. Grant heard of the scheme, he ordered the government to sell $4 million in gold, which caused the price to drop and produced a panic selling of other stocks. Black Friday day of financial panic (1869). [Am. Hist.: RHDC] See : Bankruptcy Black Friday (September 24, 1869) gold speculation led to financial panic. [Am. Hist.: Van Doren, 259] See : Conspiracy Black Friday Various Black Friday usually refers either to the infamous Wall Street Panic of September 24, 1869, when Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to "corner" the gold market, or to September 19, 1873, when stock failures caused the Panic of 1873. In England, it is often used by workers to describe May 12, 1926, the day on which the General Strike was ended. It is occasionally used to refer to Good Friday. Shoppers and retailers in the United States sometimes refer to the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday because it marks the beginning of the Christmas commercial season and is traditionally a frenetic day of shopping. SOURCES: DictDays-1988, p. 12 (c) Black Friday (Apr. 15, 1921), in Great Britain, the day that opportunist leaders of the “triple alliance” of miners, railway-men, and transport workers thwarted a sympathy strike planned by railwaymen and transport workers in support of miners locked out by the coal industry. A few hours before the strike was to take place, the union leaders canceled it against the wishes of the rank and file. Forced to strike alone, the miners were defeated. After Black Friday the bourgeoisie launched a broad frontal attack on the working people and nullified many of the victories that had been won during the upsurge in the class struggle between 1918 and 1921. REFERENCESGurovich, P. V. Pod”em rabochego dvizheniia v Anglii v 1918–1921 gg. Moscow, 1956.Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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