Buttonwood Agreement

Picture a group of 24 business owners and stockbrokers gathering under a Buttonwood tree on Wall Street in 1792. The country had just experienced its first financial panic, where prices fell and there was a run on banks. So the group of 24 signed the Buttonwood Agreement, which laid the foundation for the future New York Stock Exchange.

They agreed that everyone who traded stocks would follow the same set of rules. For example, brokers would only deal with each other, and they set limits on the amount of commission they would charge. Women, African-Americans, Asians, transgender people, Hispanics, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, and...you fill in the blanks here...were probably not a part of this meeting. Just sayin'.