I have decided to make this thread to explain to some people why were in debt but ill start off on a little history on our debt. How it started and why we got so much emptiness in our pockets. And how we tryed to fix it. ( basically what ill be talking about is 7th Grade history)
The colonist of the early America spent nearly 74 million dollars to pay for the war to fight for our liberty from the UK. We were basically loosing the war until France helped us in the later times of war. Also because it was causing to much money fro Britain to pay to keep the colonies. We didnt know that this amount of debt was supstdiezed so much that we wouldn't be able to pay it off. It wasn't until Alexander Hamilton the founder of the federalist party. His 3 step plan did actually help us out alot.
[The steps go like this]
In 1790, Hamilton proposed his financial plan to Congress. The plan included the following steps to improve the nation’s finances: 1) paying off all war
debts (including state debts); 2) raising government revenues; 3) creating a national bank.Sectional differences arose over repayment of state
debts. Many Southern states had already repaid their debts and resented being asked to help pay Northern states’ debts. Hamilton asked Thomas Jefferson
to help him gain Southern support. They reached a compromise. In exchange for Southern support of the plan, Northerners agreed to place the nation’s capital
in the South. Washington, D.C., was built on the Potomac River between Virginia and Maryland.Hamilton favored tariffs—taxes on imported foreign goods. Tariffs had two purposes: they raised
money for the government and encouraged the growth of American industry. The government placed the highest taxes on foreign goods that Americans
used in large quantities. This ensured a steady flow of income to the government, and encouraged people to buy less expensive American-made goods.
Hamilton called for the creation of a national bank. A national bank would give the government a safe place to keep money, make loans to government and businesses, and issue bank notes.
The debate over Hamilton’s plan for a national bank exposed differences about how to interpret the Constitution.
Madison and Jefferson argued that the Constitution did not give the government the power to set up a bank.They believed in the strict construction
of the Constitution. They stated that the government has only those powers that the Constitution clearly says it has.
Therefore, if the Constitution does not mention a national bank, the government cannot create one.
Hamilton disagreed. He favored a loose construction of the Constitution. He argued that the bank was necessary to carry out the government’s duties.
According to this view, where a power has been created by the Constitution, the “necessary and proper” clause (the elastic clause) permits it to be
exercised flexibly. Hamilton won the debate.
So alexander did help us lower our our debt but another war broke. the war of 1812. You all know or should know but basically The War of 1812 was a 32-month military conflict between the United States and the British Empire and their Indian allies which resulted in no territorial change between the Empire and the USA, but a resolution of many issues which remained from the American War of Independence. The United States declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by Britain's ongoing war with France, the impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American Indian tribes against American expansion, outrage over insults to national honor after humiliations on the high seas, and possible American interest in annexing Canada. That soon cost alot more debt that we did not need and more and more wars started to broke out. Then the 1900s hit. And from there the debt started to grow on and on more and more soon we were in 7 trillion dollars in debt.
And to cut this short because it will most likely take up a hole page. This what i just explained was how we got our debt and how its growing and how we could of gotten rid of.
---------- Post added 2013-03-21 at 06:05 PM ----------
Im sorry i didnt talk to much about the more recent wars or anyhting that caused us debt becasue it would take to much time to actually write down