Hamilton proposed that the government take responsibility for the existing public debt, however he did not envision paying off and thus eliminating the debt. Instead, he wanted to create a large and permanent national debt, with new bonds being issued as old ones were paid off.

The paramount problem facing Hamilton was a huge national debt. He proposed that the government assume the entire debt of the federal government and the states. His plan was to retire the old depreciated obligations by borrowing new money at a lower interest rate.

In September 1789, Washington, the newly elected first President, tapped his former aide to be first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton consolidated America’s debts and paid them fairly, established a modern financial system, and argued for an economy that included manufacturing as well as farming.

At the inauguration of the constitutional government in 1789 Alexander Hamilton (1757- 1804), George Washington’s former military aide and a renowned financier, was appointed the first Secretary of the Treasury and thus he became the architect of the structure of the Department.

Washington named Thomas Jefferson as his Secretary of State, Henry Knox as his Secretary of War, and Hamilton as his Secretary of the Treasury. Although Hamilton came to be known as the most important Secretary of the Treasury in U.S. history, he spent only five years in that position.

How were President Madison’s wartime demands to Britain made irrelevant in 1814? Britain ended its war with France; the British Navy no longer needed to seize American shipments or impress American sailors. What was the objective of Lewis and Clark expedition?

Madison raised several issues: Impressment. Continual harassment of American commerce by British warships. British laws, known as Orders in Council, declaring blockades against American ships bound for European ports.

In the War of 1812, caused by British restrictions on U.S. trade and America’s desire to expand its territory, the United States took on the greatest naval power in the world, Great Britain.

The War Hawks, who included such future political leaders as Henry Clay and John C. The nationalistic fervour and anti-British sentiment whipped up by the War Hawks was a contributing cause to the War of 1812.