157 years ago today
Black Friday: The Gold Market Collapses
On September 24, 1869, two Wall Street speculators — Jay Gould and James Fisk — saw their brazen scheme to corner the entire United States gold market collapse in spectacular fashion. For weeks they had driven up the price of gold to $162 an ounce by convincing allies close to President Ulysses S. Grant to keep the government from selling its reserves. When Grant discovered the conspiracy he ordered the Treasury to release $4 million in gold, flooding the market. The price crashed from $162 to $133 in minutes, wiping out thousands of investors and speculators in what became known as "Black Friday." The scandal shook public confidence in the Grant administration and foreshadowed the financial panics that would periodically convulse the Gilded Age.
On the record: Ulysses S. Grant
This day, across time
- 768 CEDiedPepin the Short
- 787 CEEventSecond Council of Nicaea Convenes
- 1717BornHorace Walpole
- 1755BornJohn Marshall
- 1789EventU.S. Congress Passes the Judiciary Act
- 1852EventFirst Powered Airship Flight
- 1869FeaturedBlack Friday: The Gold Market Collapses
- 1896BornF. Scott Fitzgerald
- 1898BornHoward Florey
- 1906EventDevils Tower Becomes First U.S. National Monument
- 1929EventFirst Blind Instrument-Only Flight
- 1936BornJim Henson
- 1948EventHonda Motor Company Founded
- 1991DiedDr. Seuss
- 2014EventIndia's Mars Orbiter Reaches the Red Planet
Alive in 1869
OverlapSame years; not influence
Ulysses S. Grantturned 47 this year
Mahatma Gandhiborn this year
Charles John Huffam Dickensturned 57 this year
Charles Robert Darwinturned 60 this year
Friedrich Nietzscheturned 25 this year
Henry Fordturned 6 this year
Karl Marxturned 51 this year
Marie Curieturned 2 this year
Nikola Teslaturned 13 this year
Oscar Wildeturned 15 this year
12 more figures were alive that year
On This Day in History
8 EventsSecond Council of Nicaea Convenes
Called by Empress Irene of Byzantium, the Second Council of Nicaea condemns iconoclasm and restores the veneration of religious images, settling a century-long theological controversy that had divided the Eastern Church.
U.S. Congress Passes the Judiciary Act
The Judiciary Act of 1789 establishes the federal court system, creating the Supreme Court, district courts, and circuit courts. It remains one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in American constitutional history.
First Powered Airship Flight
French engineer Henri Giffard pilots a steam-powered dirigible 17 miles from Paris to Trappes at roughly 6 mph, completing the world's first powered and controlled airship flight — a crucial step toward the age of aviation.
Black Friday Gold Panic Devastates Wall Street
Speculators Jay Gould and James Fisk attempt to corner the U.S. gold market, but President Grant releases Treasury gold, sending prices crashing and ruining thousands of investors in one of America's earliest financial scandals.
Devils Tower Becomes First U.S. National Monument
President Theodore Roosevelt uses the newly passed Antiquities Act to proclaim Devils Tower in Wyoming the nation's first national monument, establishing the precedent for presidential protection of American natural landmarks.
First Blind Instrument-Only Flight
Lieutenant James Doolittle takes off, flies, and lands a Consolidated NY-2 biplane relying entirely on instruments and no outside visibility, proving that pilots can navigate safely through clouds and fog — a breakthrough for commercial aviation.
Honda Motor Company Founded
Soichiro Honda incorporates Honda Motor Company in Japan, beginning with motorcycles before expanding into automobiles. Honda would become one of the world's largest and most innovative vehicle manufacturers.
India's Mars Orbiter Reaches the Red Planet
India's Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) successfully enters Martian orbit, making India the first Asian nation and the first country in the world to reach Mars on its maiden attempt — at a fraction of NASA mission costs.
Born on This Day
John Marshall
Fourth Chief Justice of the United States
Marshall served as Chief Justice for 34 years, shaping American constitutional law more than any other jurist. His ruling in Marbury v. Madison (1803) established judicial review — the Supreme Court's power to strike down unconstitutional laws.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
American Novelist
Author of The Great Gatsby (1925), Fitzgerald captured the glittering excess and spiritual emptiness of the Jazz Age with matchless prose. Though he died believing himself a failure, Gatsby is now considered one of the greatest American novels ever written.
Jim Henson
Puppeteer & Creator of the Muppets
Henson created Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and the entire Muppet universe, transforming puppetry into a sophisticated art form. His work on Sesame Street has educated and delighted generations of children worldwide.
Horace Walpole
English Author & Art Historian
Walpole wrote The Castle of Otranto (1764), widely considered the first Gothic novel, inventing a genre that would give rise to Frankenstein, Dracula, and countless successors. He also built Strawberry Hill, the pioneering Gothic Revival mansion.
Howard Florey
Pharmacologist, Co-developer of Penicillin
Florey shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for transforming Alexander Fleming's penicillin discovery into a mass-producible drug. The antibiotic he helped develop has saved an estimated 200 million lives.
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Pepin the Short
King of the Franks, Father of Charlemagne
The first Carolingian king, Pepin the Short deposed the last Merovingian ruler and allied with the papacy to create the Papal States. His son Charlemagne would build on his foundations to unite much of Western Europe.
Dr. Seuss
American Author & Illustrator
Theodor Seuss Geisel, writing as Dr. Seuss, wrote 46 children's books — including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas — that have sold over 600 million copies in 20 languages.
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