Handbook of Key Global Financial Markets, Institutions, and Infrastructure

Chapter 15

Alexander Hamilton

R. Sylla

New York University, New York, NY, USA

Outline

Introduction

Hamilton’s Origins

War and Finance

The Confederation Interim

Secretary of the Treasury

Public Credit

The Bank of the United States

The Dollar

State Banks, Corporations, and Securities Markets

Conclusion: The US Financial Revolution and Economic Growth

Further Reading

Introduction

Alexander Hamilton is popularly remembered by Americans for two things. As the new nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury from 1789 to 1795, Hamilton organized the Treasury Department, stabilized the federal government’s finances, restructured the country’s debts left over from the War of Independence, and persuaded Congress to found a national bank, the Bank of the ...