2065. DEBT (United States), Payment of.—[further continued] .
I consider the fortunes
of our republic as depending, in an eminent
degree, on the extinguishment of the public
debt before we engage in any war; because
that done, we shall have revenue enough to
improve our country in peace and defend it
in war, without recurring either to new taxes
or loans. But if the debt should once more
be swelled to a formidable size, its entire, discharge
will be despaired of, and we shall be
committed to the English career of debt, corruption
and rottenness, closing with revolution.
The discharge of the public debt, therefore,
is vital to the destinies of our government,
and it hangs on Mr. Madison and yourself
alone. We shall never see another President
and Secretary of the Treasury making
all their objects subordinate to this. Were
either of you to be lost to the public, that
great hope is lost.—
To Albert Gallatin. Washington ed. v, 477.
Ford ed., ix, 264.
(M.
1809)
