00 INTRODUCTION. 



ficial encouragements with which foreign governments supported their own sub- 

 jects, in divisions of industry in which they might be rivalled or surpassed. He 

 also examined the hypothesis of the superior productiveness of agriculture, and 

 maintained ^^ith elaborate reasoning that the general arguments brought to esta- 

 blish it were not satisfactory. He discussed the relative advantages of foreign 

 and domestic markets, and the circumstances peculiar to the condition of the 

 country, which, in his judgment, rendered the interposition of the government for 

 the protection of national industry expedient and necessary. On all these ques- 

 tions the report covered the whole ground of controversy, and so full and forcible 

 was its argument, that it is now referred to as authority, and as a text book by 

 those who maintain the necessity of protecting American industry. 



General Hamilton's report on the establishment of a mint discussed, 1st, What 

 ought to be the money unit of the United States ; 2d, The proper proportion 

 between gold and silver ; 3d, The composition and proportion of alloy in each 

 metal ; 4th, How the expense of coinage should be defrayed ; 5th, The number, 

 denomination, sizes, and devices of the coins ; and 6th, Whether foreign coins 

 should be permitted to be current, and at what weight. 



These reports of general Hamilton determined the fiscal policy of the United 

 States. The federal government funded its own debt and those of the states. A 

 bank was established, and throughout its career, rendered to the government and 

 to the commerce of the country the services contemplated. A tariff for revenue, 

 incorporated upon the principle of protecting domestic industry was established, 

 and a mint was founded which furnished a sufficient supply of the precious metals 

 for the proper coinage of the government. The credit of the union and of the 

 states was speedily renewed and invigorated, and the public debt incurred in the 

 revolutionary war, largely increased in the war of 1812, was finally paid off and 

 discharged during the presidency of general Jackson; and the universal prosperity 

 consequent upon the measures thus adopted, is now a subject of history. 



The legislature of New- York, as soon as the revolutionary conflict had ended, 

 devoted itself to the duty of modifying the jurisprudence and civil polity of the 



