12/23/2023 0 Comments Us budget deficit![]() July 12, 1804) was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, political philosopher and confidant of George Washington. On September 2, 1789, Congress established The Treasury Department, naming Alexander Hamilton, its chief architect, as "Secretary."Īlexander Hamilton (b. Many of Hamilton's policies have remained a part of our government's operations ever since. He pushed the framers of the new Constitution to establish measures to provide the assurance that the debt would be paid, and thus increase confidence in the growing government. ![]() Alexander Hamilton rallied for the government to assume some debt and help meet its expenses. But in 1785, revenues were still inadequate. ![]() This helped meet the normal operating expenses of the new national government. In 1783, Congress was given the power to raise taxes. 1783: Raising Taxes to Meet Operating Expenses On January 1, 1783, the public debt of the new United States totaled $43 million. This marked the beginning of annual Treasury reports to the President. Robert Morris, a wealthy merchant and Congressman (nicknamed "The Financier"), was chosen to lead a new Department of Finance in 1782.Īs the new Superintendent of Finance, Morris was the first committee member to order a reporting of the total government debt owed. This committee morphed over the next decade into the Department of Finance. In 1776, a committee of ten founders took charge of what would become the Treasury, and they helped secure funding for the war through "loan certificates" (equivalent to bonds) with which they borrowed money for the fledgling government from France and the Netherlands. The public debt of the United States can be traced back as far as the American Revolution. Robert Morris, a wealthy merchant and Congressman (nicknamed "The Financier"), was chosen to lead a new Department of Finance in 1782. George Washington, 1793, Message to the House of Representatives "No pecuniary consideration is more urgent than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of the time more valuable." The debt shrank briefly after the end of the Cold War, but by the end of FY 2008, the gross national debt had reached $10.3 trillion, about 10 times its 1980 level. After this period, the debt's growth closely matched the rate of inflation until the 1980s, when it again began to increase rapidly. The buildup to World War II brought the debt up another order of magnitude from $51 billion in 1940 to $260 billion following the war. The debt grew steadily into the Twentieth Century and was roughly $22 billion as the country paid for involvement in World War I. The debt was just $65 million in 1860, but passed $1 billion in 1863 and had reached $2.7 billion following the war. The American Civil War resulted in dramatic debt growth. But soon after, it quickly grew into the millions again. Notably, the public debt actually shrank to zero by January 1835, under President Andrew Jackson. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew. Our records show that debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War amounted to $75,463,476.52 by January 1, 1791. ![]()
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