Creation of National Debt

Washington: Gates and Seaton, 1838. Disbound pamphlet; 16 pp. Alexander Harper (1786–1860). Whig Party U.S. House representative of Ohio gave this speech against the reissuing of Treasury Notes. Let’s paint a picture: January 8, 1835 President Andrew Jackson had paid off the entire national debt. Now the question again arose, whether the United States should be a debtor nation. ​“The people will see that now, as then, the Government has resorted to a paper currency, founded on no capital other than its credit; and the recent discovery… that a paper currency, founded on the credit and resources of the Government, was superior to that supported by actual capital, and convertible into specie at any time at the pleasure of the holder, has not, so far as I know, met with a favorable response from any quarter. It is a financial heresy…” ​“The creation of a national debt appears to be inevitable; let it be done, then, in the way most likely to be the lease burdensome to the people; but this method meets with no favor…” Scarce speech on the history of our national debt and the issuance of Treasury Notes. At the time of cataloguing, no other copies for sale.