Alexander Hamilton was appointed Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789, and immediately set about creating a financial future for the young United States. He had already formed a vision of how the economy was to function and the government’s role in it, based on his study of the British and Dutch economies.

His ideas were also influenced by the Scottish economist David Hume, but his own ideas differed from Hume’s, at least when it came to the idea of credit-based economies. While Hume felt that the problems of credit-based economies (high taxes, owing money to foreign nations, etc.) were too great, Hamilton decided that the benefits of credit would stimulate the U.S. economy.

At the core of his plans were the establishment of a central bank, public credit (the creation of government bonds), protective tariffs, government assumption of state debt, and new taxes.

These actions were certainly controversial—especially the new taxes, which resulted in the Whiskey Rebellion. Also controversial was Hamilton’s position that the economic health of the government should be directly tied to the nation’s “monied men”, as he thought that without their support the nation would be doomed.

REFERENCES

Sylla, Richard. “Alexander Hamilton and the US Financial Revolution.” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. (source link).

Nancy Spannaus, “Alexander Hamilton, Founder of the American System” Emerging America. (source)

The American Yawp (source)