On October 16, , Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about "Black Friday" and the attempt to corner the gold market. Click on the image to open a larger version of the cartoon or read the caption and explanation.

Black Friday | United States history | nocuwahojopyx.web.fc2.com

Image and text provided by HarpWeek. Grant assumed the presidency in March the national economy faced several problems: As his first presidential act, Grant signed a law promising that the federal government would pay holders of U.

Grant's talented treasury secretary, George Boutwell, implemented reforms at the Treasury Department to limit counterfeiting and enhance tax collection. Boutwell also began selling the Treasury's surplus gold for greenbacks, and then used the paper currency to buy back government bonds.

Thus, gold investors could not try to make a profit based on economic indicators, but were hostage to unpredictable government actions in the market. Gould and Fisk realized, though, that gaining inside information on the government's plans would allow them buy massive amounts of gold at a low price and then sell high, reaping enormous profits.

Gould convinced a brother-in-law of President Grant, Abel Corbin, to join him and Fisk in their gold-market investments. It is not certain, however, whether Corbin actually knew the real plot or was just a pawn in the high-finance game. Gould then approached the assistant treasurer in New York, Daniel Butterfield, who was in charge of gold sales.

On This Day: October 16,

When Grant visited New York on several occasions, Corbin arranged for Gould and Fisk to be present, and the conspirators tried to persuade the president that a higher gold price from reduced Treasury sales would benefit the nation. As he usually did, Grant listened without comment. When Gould pointedly asked for a hint at the government's actions, the president resolutely refused. However, the financiers' visible access to Grant and those close to him enhanced the influence of Gould and Fisk in financial circles.

They began buying millions of dollars worth of gold in early September , initiating a rise in the market.

After conferring with leading bankers in New York, Treasury Secretary Boutwell realized what the speculators were up to, and that the federal government should increase its gold sales to stabilize the market, or risk devaluing greenbacks, government bonds, and American credit.

Boutwell refused to see Corbin, who then alerted Gould that something was afoot and wrote a lengthy letter to Grant urgently requesting the president to stop his treasury secretary. Grant did not reply, but the telegram to Gould stating, "Letter delivered all right," was mistranslated at the New York telegraph office as "Letter delivered.

However, the suspicious letter and Porter's admission of Gould's bribery attempt made Grant realize that he had been used as cover for the financiers to corner the gold market. The president warned Corbin to cut his ties with Gould, and allowed Boutwell to proceed with his plans to increase the government's gold sales. Corbin, though, tipped off Gould, who began selling his gold without informing Fisk.

The two-week frenzy on the gold market had virtually halted the country's foreign trade, which relied on gold as the medium of exchange, and threatened to broaden into an economic panic. A combination of expert legal counsel, led by David Dudley Field, and Tammany Hall judges allowed Gould and Fisk to escape legal punishment.

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