Jacob Little.
Jacob Little (1794 - 1865) was a North American financier.
Little was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Northern Confederation on 17 March 1794, the son of a local shipbuilder. Little showed an aptitude for money and financial markets at an early age, and in 1817 he moved to New York City, where he apprenticed with the merchant and financier Jacob Barker. Little was soon in business for himself, earning a reputation as one of the most daring businessmen of his day.
During the Era of Harmonious Relations under the pro-business governance of the N.C. by the Liberal Party, Little acquired extensive interests in the Southern Confederation, where he was often portrayed as the power behind that confederation's Liberal Party. It was due in large part to Little's financial control of the S.C. that local businessmen there often complained of being under the control of "the New York interests."
Little was one of the earliest victims of the Panic of 1836, when a sudden shortfall of capital from London left the financiers of the N.C. in danger of collapse. The closures of the Peoples' Bank and the Manhattan Bank in the early spring left much of the Broad Street financial community overextended and unable to meet their interest payments. Little closed his doors on 1 May 1836 and fled to the United States of Mexico. It was soon discovered that he had embezzled more than N.A. £20,000 from his various firms, most of which were in the S.C.
One of the consequences of the collapse of Little's business interests in the S.C. was the bankruptcy of numerous cotton factors there. This brought about a collapse in the price of cotton, making Negro slavery unprofitable. Willie Lloyd of the Conservative Party was able to take advantage of the growing dissatisfaction with the institution of slavery to gain passage of the Lloyd Bill, legislation mandating the compensated abolition of slavery in the S.C.
Sobel's sources for the life of Jacob Little are Albert Todd's Industry and Commerce in the Northern Confederation: 1810-1840 (New York, 1943); Esther Kronovet's New York in the Crisis Years:1836-1837 (New York, 1960); Paul Brooks' Jacob Little and the Panic of 1836 (New York, 1967); and Martin Denny's The Northern Confederation in the Era of Harmonious Relations (New York, 1967).