Washington was chosen unanimously to be the nation’s first president, and while his cabinet did not sample from Anti-Federalist sentiment, it drew from a broad spectrum of nationalist political opinion.³⁵ Jefferson—a skeptic of expansive federal power—became secretary of state. Randolph—who refused to sign the Constitution but eventually supported it for ratification—became attorney general. Washington chose for secretary of the treasury his former chief of staff Hamilton, who had grand plans for the office. In Federalist #11, he hopes to make “one great American system, superior to the controul of all trans-atlantic force or influence.”³⁶ The first step in this process was to get a handle on America’s disastrous public finances.

      That would be no little feat, as there were centuries’ worth of precedent demonstrating America’s reckless approach to its debt. Some of this was due to Great Britain refusing to allow the colonies to coin their own money, but the balance of the blame lay with the colonial governments, the first in the world to print fiat paper money. The result was rampant inflation and eventually an insistence by Britain that the colonies cease and desist. The Continental Congress was little better either, printing fiat “Continentals” that quickly became debased; by 1781, a single dollar of specie (or hard currency) was worth a whopping 168 Continental dollars. Farmers and merchants refused such worthless paper, and so the Continental Army was forced to impress supplies, with loan certificates promising future repayment.³⁷ But the impotent national government counted on just $500,000 per year in requisitions from the states during the 1780s, so there was no repayment, meaning the certificates were basically worthless, often snatched up by speculators for pennies on the dollar.³⁸

      All told, the creditworthiness of the United States was very low indeed by the time Hamilton was sworn in as the first secretary of the treasury. This was Hamilton’s top concern because, as he writes in the Report on Public Credit, the nation was “possessed of little active wealth, or in other words, little monied capital” and needed the capacity to borrow on “good terms.”³⁹ Accordingly, he suggests guaranteeing the repayment of existing federal debt, for the federal government to assume the states’ debt loads, and a new tax on alcohol, tea, and coffee.⁴⁰ This, he asserts, would help the flow of currency, extend trade, promote agriculture and manufacturing, and lower interest rates.⁴¹

      In the Report on a National Bank Hamilton proposes the chartering of a national bank, which he argues would have several beneficial effects. First, it would help the nation’s economy, as gold and silver deposited in a bank with good credit can generate much greater capital flows than just their sum in hard coin. Second, it would give the government a reliable resource for borrowing money at favorable rates of interest. Third, it would facilitate the payment of taxes. The Bank, Hamilton proposes, would be largely held by private interests, though the government would supply $2 million of its $10 million capitalization limit via a loan from the Bank itself. The rest would come from private purchases of bank stock, with 25 percent up front in gold or silver and the rest to be paid over time at an interest rate of 6 percent.⁴²

      Finally, Hamilton proffers a vast system of public support for manufacturing, which at this point in the country’s history badly trailed the advances being made in Great Britain. In his Report on Manufactures, he offers a series of justifications to diversify the economic basis of the American economy, from a virtual agricultural hegemony to one where industry had a prominent role to play. This would diversify, sharpen, and streamline existing labor; it would promote the application of time- and expense-saving machinery; it would improve employment opportunities; it would promote immigration; it would provide more opportunities for expression of the people’s creative talents; and it would create new domestic markets for the consumption of foodstuffs. Thus, Hamilton advances tariffs on manufactured items, regulations on exports of vital materials, bounties, premiums, tariffs and tax breaks on raw materials, and more. All of this, Hamilton asserts, would stimulate the people to dedicate time and capital toward manufacturing.⁴³

      Hamilton had submitted all these proposals by December 1791. Considering that this work followed right on the heels of his defense of the Constitution, both as an anonymous author of an estimated fifty-one Federalist essays and as a delegate to the New York State ratifying convention, and that he had done all of this before he turned thirty-five years of age, we can appreciate clearly why Jefferson once commented that Hamilton was “a host unto himself.”⁴⁴ It was Hamilton above all else who gave the young government energy and purpose during Washington’s first term.⁴⁵

      Considered in light of Federalist #11, it is pretty clear what Hamilton intended to do. His goal was to harness the natural bounty of the United States, as well as the energetic, intrepid character of its people, to transform the young nation into a world power. To do that, the debt problem had to be solved, interest rates had to be brought under control, the veins of credit had to be opened, and a forward-looking industrial policy had to be implemented. And, in a subtext that runs through all four proposals, he intended to tie the interests of the well-to-do to the success of the government itself. Their private prosperity would hinge on it thriving, and Hamilton adopted the logic of Madison’s large geographical sphere to prop up the republic; he would use the private interests that past philosophers had argued was its greatest threat. But while Madison was concerned about keeping a proper balance between factions, Hamilton was particularly worried about capturing the moneyed class and bending it toward the public good.

      In general, Hamilton believed Americans had to follow the example of their former British