The most pressing troubles fronting the new government were economic. As the outcome of the revolution, the federal government had developed an enormous debt: $54 million counting interest. The states owed another $25 million. Paper money supplied below the Continental Congresses and Articles of Confederation was valueless. Foreign credit was absent.
The person given to the task of determining these conflicts was 32-year-old Alexander Hamilton. Born out-of-wedlock in the West Indies in 1757, he was directed to New York at the age of 15 for schooling. One of New York's greatest important lawyers, he participated as the primary role in the Constitutional Convention and created 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers, commending help for the new Constitution. As Treasury Secretary, Hamilton planned an economic system that completed the United States the finest credit danger in the western ecosphere.
The chief risky fronting Hamilton was an enormous nationwide debt. He planned that the government accept the whole debt of the state government and the states. His strategy was to withdraw the previous criticized duties by using new money at a poorer interest rate.
States like Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Virginia, which had now funded off their debts, saw no motive why they would be stretched by the state government to wage off the debts of other states like Massachusetts and South Carolina. Hamilton's reviewers stated that his arrangement would require vast incomes to
During the eight years under the Articles of Confederation, the national debt continued to grow. The country came up with solutions, but the states ignored them. A correspondent in the Independent Chronicle in 1787 plead, “How long are we to continue on our present in-glorious acquiescence in the shameful resistance that some of the states persist in, against federal and national measures?” (Humphrey 2003, 113). Printer Nathaniel Willis called the young country a “union in crisis” (Humprey 2003, 106). Lack of revenue and no way of forcing states to contribute was one of the major and most noted flaws in the Articles of Confederation (Henretta et al. 2010).
Financial Problems Hamilton's plan a. In 1790 Hamilton proposed that the new government pay off the millions of dollars in debts owed by the confederation government to other countries and to individual american citizens. b. The states had fought for nation's independence. C. Hamilton also believed that federal payment of state debts would give the state's strong interest.
Hamilton was of the view that the nation’s elite had to have a permanent seat in determining key decisions of the nation and aggressively pushed three white papers between 1790-91 to lay the framework of American Capitalism as it stands today. He also advocated for a strong Federal government and weak State governments. By his actions, he became the de facto leader of the Federalists.
When Hamilton and the other nineteen Federalist delegates were outnumbered against a group of forty seven Anti-Federalists he worked over the next months to ratify the decision. He worked every day and every hour, going at the Anti-Federalists until the Constitution was approved. Hamilton saved the Constitution and did not leave what he started. Hamilton became the Treasury secretary and built the economic system that helped the new nation to grow. Hamilton also worked hard to solve problems revolving around the Continental Army which had been at a pause by the Continental Congress' inability to collect taxes. War was mostly funded by bonds and they couldn’t pay the debts, so he proposed that the government establish taxation on
Hamilton was appointed by President George Washington as the first Secretary of the Treasury Department. Hamilton was a Federalist and wanted a strong central government which means it should have more power than the states. Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation of the constitution which means the document allowed everything if it did not forbid. During the French Revolution, Hamilton supported and was an ally of Britain. Hamilton wanted elite rule America. The Federalist Party would be one of the “rich, the able, and the well-born” (Foner, Give Me Liberty, I, 295) as Hamilton stated. Hamilton favored a close relationship with Britain and he wanted America’s economy like Britain where trade and manufacturing were priorities. Hamilton desired to develop the economy and financial stability of the United States, so he established an economic five-program in 1790 and 1791. The first part was to establish the new nation’s credit worthiness which means people
Even though he was not perfect, Hamilton did make many important economic decisions that would later impact the future of the U.S. Beginning with he returned to New York, Hamilton finished his studies and worked as a Pro Bono Lawyer, a lawyer who worked without pay, helping ordinary people with everyday problems, (Fowler, Russell). Following this Hamilton attended the Constitutional Convention hinting his support for a strong federal government, which would later lead to the foundation of the Federalist Party, ("Alexander Hamilton. " Dictionary of American Biography).
Before the Revolutionary War had occurred, many people were coming to the new colonies to start a new life; one of the people was Alexander Hamilton. He had come to the colonies after impressing people in the Caribbean and who then sent him to America to get a better education (“Alexander Hamilton”). Hamilton was an important figure in American history, but very few today remember who he was and what he did. Alexander Hamilton took a stand against traditional government by writing against and battling the British, fighting for the new U.S. Treasury, and arguing for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Another thing that Hamilton had done was fight through the revolution as George Washington's right hand man and he was able to, after fighting, fund the nation's federal debt. The writer states “great achievement was funding the federal debt at face value, which rectified and nationalized the financial chaos inherited from the Revolution” (history.com Para. 5). We can tell that he fought through the war, risking his life to help America and eventually help America, even more, afterwards. After going through a tough life so far he was able to also become the nation's first Secretary of Treasury, which deals with the nation's debt and credit which he helped create. It states in the article “As secretary of the treasury” (history.com Para. 5). This just simply shows that he was able to become the Treasurer. Hamilton in total was a very good man, nevertheless, he had cheated on his wife and kinda caused the death of his son helped form America and is very awesome.
Although the national debt seems outrageous and out of control, currently standing at over $20 trillion, Alexander Hamilton considered national debt to be a blessing rather than a curse. In the First Report on Public Credit, Hamilton is quoted as saying, “…Persuaded as the Secretary is, that the proper funding of the present debt, will render it a national blessing.” The three-point process that Hamilton implemented catapulted the United States from an agrarian based society to a world power almost immediately. If Alexander Hamilton had not had a worldwide, economic grasp on the United States’ finances, America could never have become the great nation it is today.
In 1789, George Washington appointed Hamilton as the first Secretary of Treasury. As the Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton devised plans that funded national debts, assumed the states’ Revolutionary War debts, and established the First National Bank of the United States. Hamilton also influenced many key Federalists in the House of Representatives to make Thomas Jefferson president in the Election of 1800, and was killed in a duel in 1804.
The Articles of Confederation proved to be inadequate as the first attempt to form a national government. The Articles displayed an American fear of having another strong national government. Due to the fear of this type of government, no executive office was created and Congress received limitations on its power. Instead, states remained sovereign, forming only a “league of friendship” under the Articles. The states having more power than Congress lead to many failures and problems.
3. What was Hamilton’s plan for debt reconciliation? Hamilton suggested funding the debt by selling government bonds, and further proposed that state debts be assumed by the national government. Why was Madison opposed to it? Madison believed that Hamilton's plan "was betraying the ideas of the American Revolution."
An important problem with the Articles of Confederation were with money. The United States owed millions of dollars in result of borrowing money during the Revolution, and had no way to pay off their debts. Although Congress could ask states for money, they could not force them to contribute. Even though the states had made paper money, each state had a different kind of money. For example, Rhode Island used dollars,
Hamilton left the military in 1781. He had recently married Betsey Schuyler, and worked diligently for several months to pass the New York bar exam. Hamilton served as one of New York's most prominent lawyers in the early 1780s, and also began his political career, serving first as a national tax agent, and then as one of New York's representatives at the national Congress in Philadelphia. In 1786, Hamilton was chosen to represent New York state at a national convention held in Annapolis, Maryland, to amend the Articles of Confederation. When only a few of the delegates from the other states bothered to attend, Hamilton called for a second convention to be held in Philadelphia in 1787. This time, the delegates took the invitation more seriously, and created the outline for a new government by drafting the Constitution.
George Washington had recognized Hamilton’s leadership abilities and promoted him as Lieutenant Colonel. He was also an innovator of military design, where he designed reports on the defects and how there could be improvement in the military. While Hamilton was working as an adviser for Washington, Hamilton had come to realize the Congress' weaknesses, including jealousy between states, which he believed came from the Articles of Confederation (http://www.ushistory.org/). In 1782, Hamilton was convinced that establishing a strong central government was the key to achieving America’s independence.