the House his first report,
known as that on public credit. The boldness of Hamilton's plan startled
and divided the country. Funding resolutions were introduced into the
House. The first, relating to the foreign debt, passed unanimously; the
second, providing for the liquidation of the domestic obligations, was
sharply debated, but in the end Hamilton's scheme was adopted. The
resolutions providing for the assumption of the state debts, which he
embodied in his report, aroused an opposition still more formidable, and
it was not until August 4 that by political machinery this part of his
plan received the assent of Congress. To provide for the interest on the
debt and the expenses of the government, the import and navigation
duties were raised to yield the utmost revenue available; but, in the
temper of Congress, the excise law was not pressed at this session. The
secretary had securely laid the foundations of his policy. Time and
sheer necessity would compel the completion of his work in essential
accord with his original design. The President's message at the opening
of the winter session added greatly to the prestige of Hamilton's policy
by calling attention to the great prosperity of the country and the
remarkable rise in public credit. The excise law, modified to apply to
distilled spirits, passed the House in January. The principle of a
direct tax was admitted. On December 14, 1790, in obedience to an order
of the House requiring the secretary to report further provision for the
public credit, Hamilton communicated his plans for a national bank. Next
in order came the establishment of a national mint. Thus in two sessions
of Congress, and in the space of little more than a year from the time
when he took charge of the Treasury, Hamilton conceived and carried to
successful conclusion an entire scheme of finance.

One more measure in the comprehensive system of public credit crowned
the solid structure of which the funding of the debt was the
cornerstone. This was the establishment of the sinking fund for the
redemption of the debt. Hamilton conformed his plan to the maxim, which,
to use his words, "has been supposed capable of giving immortality to
credit, namely, that with the creation of debts should be incorporated
the means of extinguishment, which are twofold. 1st. The establishing,
at the time of contracting a debt, funds for the reimbursement of the
principal, as well as for the payment of interest within a d