The first American Express Travelers’ Cheque was issued in 1891.
Then as now, Travelers’ Cheques were designed to allow travelers to carry funds safely.
American Express levied a surcharge on buyers of the cheques and paid banks a commission for each sale.
There have been two “Banks of the United States”, both chartered by Congress and both allowed to expire after 20 years. The First Bank of the United States lasted from 1791 to 1811, the second from 1816 to 1836. Each served as the federal government’s fiscal agents and repositories of federal funds. The banks were…
In 1942, about 100,000 Japanese-Americans were moved to ten internment camps in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. The camps were closed in late 1945.
The song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” was written in 1863 during the Civil War by Union army bandmaster Patrick S. Gilmore.
The earthquake that hit San Francisco in 1906 is estimated to have measured 8.3 on the Richter scale. Four square miles of downtown San Francisco were destroyed and over 500 people died in the earthquake and subsequent fire on April 18-19, 1906.
Supreme Court received the disparaging epithet “Nine Old Men” when they opposed President Franklin Roosevelt’s reforms during the Great Depression. The Nine Old Men was the title of a 1936 book on the Supreme Court by Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen.
The firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert, that specialized in using junk bonds to fund 1980s corporate takeovers marked the beginning of a new decade by filing for bankruptcy on February 13, 1990. The company had defaulted on more than $100 million in loans.