ABSTRACT
William Duer's story begins in 1747 in the green, leafy idyll of Devonshire, England. His father, John Duer, was a successful Caribbean planter with properties in Antigua, while his mother was the daughter of Sir Frederick Frye, an accomplished naval commander in the West Indies. Duer was to spend much of his final year of life in debtors' prison, demonized by Americans who blamed him for the Panic of 1792. Word of Duer's financial difficulties spread quickly. The already nervous market rapidly transmitted the King of the Alley's distress throughout the taverns, offices, and other locations that formed the backbone of 1792's Wall Street. Duer was active in all forms of speculation—before the war, during the war, and after the war. Indeed, in the immediate postwar environment markets he actively traded in Continental currency, government obligations, and bonds of local companies and banks. One of the schemes that followed Duer into office was the Scioto Company.
