On Public Debt

Treasury Department,

In obedience to two resolutions of the House of Representatives: one of the 21st instant, directing the Secretary of the Treasury to report a plan for the redemption of so much of the public debt as, by the act entitled “An act making provision for the debt of the United States,” the United States have reserved the right to redeem; the other of the 22d instant, directing him to report the plan of a provision for the reimbursement of a loan, made of the Bank of the United States, pursuant to the eleventh section of the act entitled “An act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States,” the said Secretary respectfully submits the following report: Continue reading On Public Debt

Report on Manufactures

Communicated to the House of Representatives,

December 5, 1791.

The Secretary of the Treasury, in obedience to the order of the House of Representatives, of the 15th day of January, 1790, has applied his attention, at as early a period as his other duties would permit, to the subject of Manufactures, and particularly to the means of promoting such as will tend to render the United States independent on foreign nations for military and other essential supplies; and he thereupon respectfully submits the following report: Continue reading Report on Manufactures

Report on a National Bank

Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 14, 1790

Treasury Department,

December 13, 1790.

In obedience to the order of the House of Representatives of the ninth day of August last, requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare and report on this day such further provision as may, in his opinion, be necessary for establishing the public credit, the said Secretary further respectfully reports:

That, from a conviction (as suggested in his report herewith presented1) that a national bank is an institution of primary importance to the prosperous administration of the finances, and would be of the greatest utility in the operations connected with the support of the public credit, his attention has been drawn to devising the plan of such an institution, upon a scale which will entitle it to the confidence, and be likely to render it equal to the exigencies, of the public. Continue reading Report on a National Bank

On the Establishment of a Mint

Communicated to the House of Representatives,

January 28, 1791.

The Secretary of the Treasury having attentively considered the subject referred to him by the order [4]of the House of Representatives, of the fifteenth of April last, relatively to the establishment of a mint, most respectfully submits the result of his inquiries and reflections.
Continue reading On the Establishment of a Mint

First Report on the Public Credit

Communicated to the House of Representatives,

January 14, 1790.

Treasury Department,

January 9, 1790.

The Secretary of the Treasury, in obedience to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the twenty-first day of September last, has, during the recess of Congress, applied himself to the consideration of a proper plan for the support of the public credit, with all the attention which was due to the authority of the House, and to the magnitude of the object.

In the discharge of this duty, he has felt, in no small degree, the anxieties which naturally flow from a just estimate of the difficulty of the task, from a well-founded diffidence of his own qualifications for executing it with success, and from a deep and solemn conviction of the momentous nature of the truth contained in the resolution under which his investigations have been conducted,—“That an adequate provision for the support of the public credit is a matter of high importance to the honor and prosperity of the United States.”

With an ardent desire that his well-meant endeavors may be conducive to the real advantage of [228] the nation, and with the utmost deference to the superior judgment of the House, he now respectfully submits the result of his inquiries and reflections to their indulgent construction. Continue reading First Report on the Public Credit