US National Debt $63,452,773, Those Were the Days My Friend

1950

1853

Japan

Commodore Matthew Perry and his forces sailed into Tokyo Bay in their brand spanking new steam powered ships. Perry brought a gift of a letter from the US President demanding that Japan open itself up to international trade. So impressed with the steam-ships the Shogunate decided to modernize their country. The Kanagawa Treaty was signed the following year.

1854

Nicaragua

Commodore Matthew Perry and his forces sailed into Tokyo Bay in their brand spanking new steam powered ships. Perry brought a gift of a letter from the US President demanding that Japan open itself up to international trade. So impressed with the steam-ships the Shogunate decided to modernize their country. The Kanagawa Treaty was signed the following year.

1857

Nicaragua

In a battle that lasted 14 minutes, Commander C. H. Davis of the US Navy aided by the Marines received the surrender of William Walker. Mr. Walker was an American who had proclaimed himself President of Nicaragua in 1855, and had instituted forced labor and legalized slavery. He had set out from the US with hundreds of men and the sponsorship of the Knights of the Golden Circle. The removal of Mr. Walker to the US as tacitly disavowed by Secretary of State Lewis Cass due to the questionable legality of seizing and American national on neutral land.

USA

The failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. bursts a European speculative bubble in U.S. railroads and loss of confidence in U.S. banks. Known as "The Panic of 1857". This recession lasted until 1860.

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