 Since the end of the Civil War , the United States had experienced panics of varying severity . Economists Charles Calomiris and Gary Gorton rate the worst panics as those leading to widespread bank suspensions — the panics of 1873 , 1893 , and 1907 , and a suspension in 1914 . Widespread suspensions were forestalled through coordinated actions during both the 1884 and the 1890 panics . A bank crisis in 1896 , in which there was a perceived need for coordination , is also sometimes classified as a panic . 
