Dictionary.net

A state of extreme acute, intense anxiety and unreasoning fear accompanied by disorganization of personality function.

Or commercial crises in United States history, begin with that of 1819, due to speculation and disorder following upon the War of 1812. The next followed in 1837. The years preceding had been years of extraordinary speculation, carried on with a most unsound banking system. Jackson gave the final impetus to the panic by his " specie circular," which struck a great blow at credit, and forced many banks to suspend specie payments. The country gradually righted itself without the aid of governmental interference, which Van Buren refused to give. In 1857 another period of inflation was followed by another crisis. After the war came another period of inflation, and, as a result, the panic of 1873. The crisis of 1893 seems to have been rather due to financial legislation than to an unsound condition of the business of the country at large.