The central bank's reaction to the crisis—a…
January 1819 CE
The central bank's reaction to the crisis—a clumsy expansion, then a sharp contraction of credit—indicates its weakness, not its strength.
The effects are catastrophic, resulting in a protracted recession with mass unemployment and a sharp drop in property values that will persist until 1822.
When the U.S. markets collapses in the Panic of 1819—a result of global economic adjustments—the central bank comes under withering criticism for its belated tight money policies, which exacerbate mass unemployment and plunging property values.
Further, it transpires that branch directors for the Baltimore office had engaged in fraud and larceny.