The Buttonwood Tree - New York 1792

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the New York Stock Exchange. It began outside of 68 Wall Street with the gathering of 24 stock brokers who signed an agreement beneath the Buttonwood tree which stood outside that address. Across the street once stood the 12 foot high wall erected as a barricade against invasion by the Lenape Indians. This invasion never occurred and eventually the planks were torn up and used for building materials and firewood. The wall was completely torn down by 1699, however the street kept it's name. It would be almost another hundred years until the 24 original traders would meet and sign the agreement which became the stock exchange. That agreement stated;

"We the Subscribers, Brokers for the Purchase and Sale of the Public Stock, do hereby solemnly promise and pledge ourselves to each other, that we will not buy or sell from this day for any person whatsoever, any kind of Public Stock, at least than one quarter of one percent Commission on the Specie value and that we will give preference to each other in our Negotiations. In Testimony whereof we have set our hands this 17th day of May at New York, 1792."

These are the parties who signed the "Buttonwood Agreement";

Leonard Bleecker … 16 Wall Street
Hugh Smith … Tontine Coffee House
Armstrong & Barnewall … 58 Broad Street
Samuel March … 243 Queen Street
Bernard Hart … 55 Broad Street
Alexander Zuntz … 97 Broad Street
Andrew D. Barclay … 136 Pearl Street
Sutton & Hardy … 20 Wall Street
Benjamin Seixas … 8 Hanover Square
John Henry … 13 Duke Street
John A. Hardenbrook … 24 Nassau Street
Samuel Beebe … 21 Nassau Street
Benjamin Winthrop … 2 Great Dock Street
John Ferrers … 205 Water Street
Ephraim Hart … 74 Broadway
Isaac M. Gomez … 32 Maiden Lane
Julian McEvers … 140 Greenwich Street
Augustine H. Lawrence … 132 Water Street
G. N. Bleecker … 21 Broad Street
John Bush … 195 Water Street
Peter Anspach … 3 Great Dock Street
Charles McEvers Jr. … 194 Water Street
David Reedy … 58 Wall Street
Robinson & Hartshorne … 198 Queen Stree

Public trading had been going on in Philadelphia since 1790, but with no real written agreement amongst the brokers there. The first Publicly traded Securities offered in New York were $80 million in US Government Bonds to retire the debt from the American Revolution. The Bank of New York, as one of the first traders, bought some of that debt.

Trading has been going on since the earliest days of record keeping. Some of the earliest trades were done in cuneiform, which is considered to be the earliest form of writing. Around 3500 BC "bullae" became popular for the trading of commodities. These were small clay bags containing tokens used for accounting. The item being traded was displayed on the bag. It was often a depiction of something such as a sheep, or some other agricultural item, to denote the commodity being traded. The tokens represented the quantity being traded.

Later, in the Midddle Ages, Euro-Fairs came into existence. At these fairs items other than agricultural commodities began to be traded. It was around this time that Certificates of Credit came into use. These were the precursors to the Certificates of Ownership that would come into use in the 17th Century.

From these humble beginnings arose the Stock Exchange of today. There have been many ups and downs in the history of the market, and these ups and downs will likely continue for as long as man endures. Some notable firsts;

Bank of New York was the first trader.

Con Edison is the oldest and longest trader- established in 1824 as the NY Gas Light Company.

Ticker tape was introduced in 1867. The telephone came in 1878 and electric lights in 1883. The electronic ticker display board would not come into use until 1966.

In 1886 the daily trades topped 1 million for the first time. By 2007 it would exceed 5 billion per day.

The Stock Market drives the ups and downs of our economy and sometimes falls victim to itself. It reflects the public's confidence, or it's disdain, during times of crisis as well as in times of prosperity.

Like many Americans, I do not profess to fully understand it. And at times, like many Americans, it can make me angry. Someone blew it up in the 1920's. It crashed by itself in 1929 and then came back full force during the Second World War. To this day it continues to finance everything under the sun. Whether you like it or not, from the look of things, it's here to stay.