Bankruptcy was wide-spread, and the distress between 1817 and 1824 was perhaps deeper and more general than at any other period of our history.

There was no immigration of foreigners, and consequently no wealth from that source.

There was no market for agricultural products, and the people were therefore unable to indulge in liberal expenditure.

Their small savings could be more profitably invested in foreign than in domestic goods, and hence American manufactures received little patronage.
The traditions of that period, as given by the generation that lived through it, are sorrowful and depressing.

The sacrifice of great landed estates, worth many millions could they have been preserved for the heirs of the next generation, was a common feature in the general distress and desolation.