The classical hands-off approach also applied to commercial
banking and financial markets. Twice, the United
States had established a central bank prior to the twentieth
century, but neither survived original chartering. In 1907,
as had previously happened, a major NewYork bank failed.
This triggered a financial panic that had the impact of
producing a sharp drop in the U.S. money supply and subsequent
reduction in real output. The panic would have
been worse had not John Pierpont Morgan opened his
personal fortune to deposit money in banks in a vote of financial support. A century later, a similar but larger crisis
would confront the U.S. economy.
The lesson drawn from this episode was to make clear
the need for a central source of reserves for the U.S. banking
system. What emerged was the Federal Reserve Act
(1913) and the Federal Reserve System that opened in
1914. The System, composed of 12 regional banks, was
dominated by the NewYork Federal Reserve until events in
the Great Depression resulted in an overhaul of the U.S.
monetary structure.