Our first President (1732-1799) was of one mind with Alexander Hamilton on the requirements for establishing a credit system that would use federal government powers to develop the U.S. economy through promoting scientific agriculture and manufactures. He was committed to creating unity in the nation through economic projects, and to providing the means for constant improvement of the intellectual and technological powers of the nation. This was the only road to sustaining the United States as a nation, he thought, and that was his overriding commitment, once the Revolutionary War was won.
It was thanks to President Washington that the Constitution itself was created and approved, and that Hamilton was able to implement his two reports on public credit, most especially the report on the National Bank. President Washington held the trust of the nation in a unique way, and his moral authority was essential to establishing the core of the economic system which sustained the United States in its early years.
Further reading:
“George Washington’s Vision for Foreign and Domestic Peace and Prosperity,” a book review by Nancy Spannaus
Primary Sources:
Farewell Address, reprinted in The Political Economy of the American Revolution, ed. Nancy Spannaus and Christopher White, EIR, 1995.
Tags: credit, Hamilton, National Bank, washington