Biography
A fight over federal fiscal and monetary policy was at the center of politics in the early American republic. Jefferson’s champion in that fight was Albert Gallatin.
Among the Jefferson administration’s enduring achievements was to contain the federal government by restraining its fiscal power. That was Albert Gallatin’s work. He abolished internal revenue taxes in peacetime, slashed federal spending, and repaid half of the national debt and had a plan to retire the debt (before the War of 1812 intervened). Heavy spending during the War of 1812 severely tested Gallatin’s system, but his basic reforms created a culture of fiscal restraint that survived for over 120 years.
Albert Gallatin
Jefferson’s Treasure: How Albert Gallatin Saved the New Nation from Debt
Gregory May’s biography of Albert Gallatin looks at his rise to power, his tumultuous years at the Treasury, and his enduring influence on American fiscal policy.
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