Sec Treasury

By Bookclub

  • H named to Treasury job

    hits ground running
    no other moment in history could have allowed for H's talents

  • H of R asks for report on public debt in 110 days

  • Period: to

    Report on Public Debt

    H wrote a detailed blueprint of government machinery
    broad political, economic vision
    devised economic machinery that fit together perfectly -- could not tamper with parts without unraveling the whole
    H viewed the debt as the price of liberty -- the debt was enormous

  • H's 51 page report delivered and read aloud to H of R

    afterward they sat in stupidified silence
    report crystallized division btwn north and south
    rural feared big city financiers
    post report, securities changed hands at electrifying speed
    report did not stick to the debt
    report included war bonds/securities trading, debt owed by states and debt owed by federal gvt to be consolidated, included the idea of "sin" tax on wine and spirits (shelved for later -- Whiskey Tax), revenues from post office, and a "sinking fund" to extinguish debt over time

  • H of R debate the report - "H's funding system"

  • Period: to

    Congress also debating slavery at same time as "funding scheme"

    H is silent through this debate
    couldn't fight for funding plan and slavery at same time

  • Madison attacks funding scheme and proposes alternative

  • Madison's alternative defeated

  • Madison contests assumption

    Assumption is the consolidation of state and federal debt
    H is stunned
    Madison and Jefferson align
    Madison spoke for VA, not as The Federalist H knew
  • Period: to

    Madison thwarts assumption

  • H of R votes assumption down (31-29)

  • H of R enacts the funding bill w/o assumption

  • H needs to bargain - dinner with Jefferson Madison

    trades away the capital location for assumption

  • Residence Act - Capital on Potomac w/ Temp capital in Philly

  • H of R passes Assumption Bill

    Jefferson felt duped
    of all the errors Jefferson made, he felt this was his biggest
    H scheme created foundation for federal power

  • Coast Guard bill passes

  • H proposes excise tax on whiskey - revenue needed Senate passes

    Federal government needs revenue
    H wants to get it before the states

  • H's Report to Charter America's first bank

    proposes bank of united states
    need uniform currency
    H steeped in European banking precedents and financial history

  • Bill to charter Bank of United States breezes through Senate

  • H delivers Report on Mint to Senate

  • H of R passes Banking Bill (39-20)

    again, northern support and southern opposition
    H's greatest stretch of federal power

  • Madison wants GW to veto the banking bill

  • GW sends H documents from Jefferson on Banking Bill

    GW has 10 days to veto and wants H's input

  • H's brilliant response to GW - 40 page manifesto on banking bill

  • GW signs Banking Bill

  • Senate passes Whiskey Tax

  • Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (SEUM)

    Coxe's (now asst treasurer) plan
    pilot project, laboratory of innovation
    H lent his prestige and backing of gvt
    Create a manufacturing town

  • Whiskey tax takes effect

    inspectors are threatened

  • Stock offering for SEUM sold out immediately

    H drummed up support for offering
  • Period: to

    Whiskey Rebellion

  • Period: to

    Reynolds affair

    Maria R arrives at H's house needing help
    H takes money to her at her house
  • Period: to

    H submits Report on Manufacturing to Congress

    capstone of his ambitious state papers
    impetus was mostly military in nature to make military supplies

  • First stock offering to Bank of United States

    less than 1 hour all sold

  • After bank stock soared it crashed

    the first crash in gvt securities in American history
    H knew the prices too high

  • H ordered Seton to buy up $150000 of gvt securities

    Seton was a cashier at Bank of NY
    price fell back to more reasonable price of $110/share before settling at $145/share in Sept
  • Period: to

    Newspaper wars = Freneau - starts newspaper National Gazette (Jefferson's paper)

    Freneau hired by Jefferson and Madison to be a translator July 1791, even though Freneau only spoke French and Jefferson already spoke French

  • 3 new banks being formed - bankomania

    Jefferson viewed it like gambling...destructive and immoral
    speculation drawing people away from honest work

  • Jefferson sits with GW to discuss Post Office, but really to warn GW of H's intent to devour gvt

    GW smart enough and dismisses Jefferson's charges

  • Duer packed off to debtor's prison

    died in prison 1799
    Duer was H's first assistant treasurer
    Duer a speculator in bank securities, and borrowed heavily during the script offering
    stole the investment monies from SEUM to cover debts

  • U.S. Mint established by Congress

    mint assigned to Jefferson and he ran it poorly
    H tried to swap post office for mint
    mint stayed in Philly when capital moved to DC

  • 2 dozen brokers drew up rules to govern securities trading - NYSE

  • Vice Presidency "up for grabs"

    Adams being challenged by Clinton and Burr

  • SEUM damaged by financial panic and Duer emptied society's treasury

    H worked with directors to draw up a new program
    hired (the wrong) architect to lay out the town
    and other unending troubles

  • H's 5th child born "John Church"

  • H responds to GW's request to cease and desist attacking Jefferson

    H refused GW's direct request
    H seemed unhinged by the dispute with Jefferson...something compulsive and uncontrollable appeared in his public behavior
    H fought with his full arsenal of verbal weapons...didn't know when to stop

  • Jefferson meets with GW to convince him H heads a monarchist plot

    GW loses patience with Jefferson
    GW tells Jefferson he supported H's funding system because it worked
    Jefferson concludes GW brain enfeebled by age because he supports H
    Jefferson to resign at the end of GW's first term (March 1793)
    H had won

  • H of R shelves the report on Mfr

    unlike papers on public credit, mint, central bank this report did not solve a problem, but rather set a direction for gvt and broad conception of federal power

  • H of R demands strict accounting of foreign loans (2x)

    want details of borrowed money from Europe
    H wanted to transfer funds to the Natl Banks to aid speculators
    Reynolds affair eeking out and wrong doing with funds suspected

  • H provides detailed

  • H of R demands more info - intent to overwhelm H

    believed to be instigated by Jefferson
    an impossible March 3 deadline

  • H delivers report at risk of physical breakdown

    every proof of his talents just makes him more threatening

  • Jefferson proposes official inquiry to H and Treasury to GW

    GW turns Jefferson down bluntly

  • Jefferson (through Giles) - 9 censor resolutions against H

  • All 9 resolutions defeated - H foresees further attacks

  • Reynolds affair leaking out - confidentiality breached

  • Faunces and his 2 warrants for redemption and blackmailing H

    Redemption warrants date back to early confederation period...first days of government
    Routinely honored these warrants but later declined automatic payment
    Faunces (ex-Treasury employee) knew the history and ins and outs
  • Period: to

    Faunces and his 2 warrants for redemption and blackmailing H

  • H knew his enemies were tracking his movements - info on Faunces

    by this time Faunces had connected with Clingman and Beckley(Jefferson's guy)

  • Faunces publishes a pamphlet with H correspondence