Opening paragraphs... (dedicated to us history majors everywhere who sometimes forget there is not much new going on)..............

When Baltimore merchant George Peabody sailed for London in 1835, the world was in the throes of a debt crisis.  The defaulting governments weren't obscure Balkan nations or South American republics but American states.  The United States had succumbed to a craze for building railroads, canals, and turnpikes, all backed by state credit.  Now Maryland legislators, with the bravado of the ruined, threatened to join other states in skipping interest payments on their bonds, which were largely marketed in London.  As one of the three state commissioners assigned to renegotiate the debt, Peabody urged officials to tone down their rhetoric and placate British bankers.  But American legislators found it easier to pander to the hatred of foreign banks rather than to raise new taxes to service debt.
-Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan