During this time, speculation was the investment of choice, leading to the Panic of 1792. Former Continental Congressman William Duer raised large sums of money to invest in bank stock and government securities, novel and financially sophisticated assets whose risks many contemporaries failed to understand. Duer soon defaulted on his debts, destroying the savings of many middle- and working-class people. The ensuing panic caused riots and reignited Congressional debate over a bankruptcy law that would finally produce the Bankruptcy Act of 1800 after the Panic of 1796–1797.