The Buttonwood Agreement is the founding document of what is now the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

and is one of the most important financial documents in U.S. history. The agreement organized securities trading in

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and was signed on May 17, 1792 between 24

stockbroker A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and ...

s outside of 68

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. According to legend the signing took place under a buttonwood tree where their earliest transactions had occurred. The New York Stock Exchange celebrates the signing of this agreement on May 17, 1792 as its founding.

History

In March 1792, twenty-four of New York's leading merchants met secretly at Corre's Hotel to discuss ways to bring order to the securities business. Two months later, on May 17, 1792, the group signed a document called the Buttonwood Agreement, named after their traditional meeting place under a buttonwood tree – not because it was signed there. There were too many brokers involved to meet under a tree. Business was conducted in various offices and coffee houses. In 1793, they coordinated their business inside the

Tontine Coffee House The Tontine Coffee House was a coffeehouse in Manhattan, New York City, established in early 1793. Situated at 82 Wall Street, on the north-west corner of Water Street,Nathans, p. 133 it was built by a group of stockbrokers to serve as a meetin ...

on the corner of Wall and Water streets. The document is now part of the archival collection of the New York Stock Exchange.

Document agreement

In brief, the agreement had two provisions: 1) the brokers were to deal only with each other, thereby eliminating the auctioneers, and 2) the commissions were to be 0.25%. It reads as follows:

Signers

The twenty-four brokers, known as ''Founding and Subsequent Fathers'', who signed the Buttonwood Agreement were (including business location): * Peter Anspach … 3 Great Dock Street * Armstrong & Barnewall … 58 Broad Street * Andrew D. Barclay … 136 Pearl Street * Samuel Beebe … 21 Nassau Street * G. N. Bleecker … 21 Broad Street * Leonard Bleecker … 16 Wall Street * John Bush … 195 Water Street * John Ferrers … 205 Water Street * Isaac M. Gomez … 32 Maiden Lane * Bernard Hart … 55 Broad Street * John A. Hardenbrook … 24 Nassau Street * Ephraim Hart … 74 Broadway * John Henry … 13 Duke Street * Augustine H. Lawrence … 132 Water Street * Samuel March … 243 Queen Street * Charles McEvers Jr. … 194 Water Street * Julian McEvers … 140

Greenwich Street Greenwich Street is a north–south street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It extends from the intersection of Ninth Avenue (Manhattan), Ninth Avenue and Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, Manha ...

* David Reedy … 58 Wall Street * Robinson & Hartshorne … 198 Queen Street * Benjamin Seixas … 8 Hanover Square * Hugh Smith …

* Lutton & Hardy … 20 Wall Street * Benjamin Winthrop … 2 Great Dock Street * Alexander Zuntz … 97 Broad Street

References

{{reflist

External links

Image of agreement
at the Virtual Museum and Archive of the History of Financial Regulation of The Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society

as part of story on the

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cable network. 18th century in New York City 1792 in New York (state) New York Stock Exchange Wall Street 1792 in economic history History of stock exchanges in the United States 1860s individual tree deaths