Financial History Issue 113 (Spring 2015) | Page 39
From Disagreements to the First Divide
continued from page 19
he denounced the “incense” of admiring addresses that greeted the President
in every city. He was aware that people
were expressing their admiration for “the
defender of the liberty of our country”
but insisted that it all “favors too much of
monarchy to be used by republicans.”
Shares in the Bank of the United States
went on sale on July 4, 1791, in Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Rumors had
convinced not a few people that the government would pay 12% interest. Swarms
of investors stormed the Treasury offices in
Philadelphia, and 26,200 would-be buyers
entered bids. The shares sold out within an
hour. To widen participation, Hamilton
marketed the $400 shares (about $6,000
in today’s money) piecemeal; a would-be
investor could pay only $25 for a document called “scrip” which entitled him to
buy a certain number of shares, for which
he would have to pay in full in 18 months.
For the first month, the price of scrip
remained within reasonable bounds. But
early in August, it zoomed into the stratosphere. Some people began calling the
frenzied market “scrippomania.” One
friend warned Hamilt ۈ ] H[