On 14 January 1790 Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton submitted his First Report on Public Credit to Congress. Hamilton advised that the federal government should assume the state debts of about $25 million, add the amount to the nation's foreign debt of nearly $12 million and domestic debt of almost $42 million, and "fund," or redeem, the combined debt with new interest-bearing securities. Current holders of the depreciated Continental securities would exchange them for new securities, whose principal and interest would be guaranteed by a percentage of the national revenue. Hamilton's plan contained important principles that guided his bold agenda for the United States. Hamilton believed that a prosperous nation was a commercial nation like Great Britain, and he also believed that men were motivated by self-interest. He wanted to create a permanent national debt that would tie American merchants to their government as it did in.....
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