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Prompted by the ratification of the Articles of Confederation in April of 1781, Hamilton sharpened his propaganda pen and began a series of editorials he called "The Continentalist." His tenure at headquarters, much of it witnessing the wranglings of Washington with congress, had convinced him of the ineffectiveness of the Continental congress, and the weaknesses inherent in the Articles of Confederation. Hamstrung by vague guidelines and dogged by bickering between representatives whose local interests often took precedence over the common good, it was close to impossible for congress to raise revenue necessary to keep the revolution afloat.
To Hamilton, the Continental congress was a body of politicians of limited vision who were ready to sacrifice the lives of good soldiers and the future of the whole nation by allowing petty bickering, rather than foresight and wisdom, to direct their policies. If the government under the Articles of Confederation was so indecisive during a time of supposedly galvanizing crisis, then after the war, when the states were no longer even thinly dependent upon each other for support, the union was in serious trouble.
The Continentalist series, six essays in all, took Hamilton a year to complete. The final number was published on July 4, 1782. In these essays, Hamilton reminds the American people that they need to look to their future as an independent nation and establish a strong federal government under which the states would be solidly united for a common purpose. He envisions a nation that is fiscally sound, respectable abroad--of dire importance to him, and inextricably tied to fiscal soundness--and tranquil and prosperous at home.
Hamilton begins by making some positive observations about the character of the American people. The fact that England's relatively tiny force cannot be driven from America is not on account of the "disaffection" of the people for the cause: "the most decided attachment of the people could alone have made them endure, without a convulsion . . . There is perhaps not another nation in the world, that would have shown equal patience and perseverance in similar circumstances." So, the fault for America's "embarrassments" lies directly on congress, the "impolicy and mismanagement in [America's] rulers."
He outlines the many dangers of a loose confederation, including the possibility of foreign powers playing states against each other, and the greater possibility of war between the states. Hamilton also reminds his readers that the war with Britain continues to rage, and could still be lost.
Foremost on Hamilton's mind is the ability of the federal government to regulate trade, until now the domain of the individual states; and modes of revenue collection to build a base of capital on which the new republic can operate. In another revelation of what was to become a cornerstone of his national fiscal plan, Hamilton elaborates on the importance of credit. It is wrong, Hamilton explained to depend on "occasional grants" from the separate states to pay debts. Current experience shows that as an unreasonable expectation. Nor should we expect to pay off our debts within the same year the debts are incurred. That would be impossible, and simple fiscal ignorance. While congress operates under such faulty financial policies, the nation will "neither have dignity vigour nor credit. CREDIT supposes specific and permanent funds for the punctual payment of interest, with a moral certainty of a final redemption of the principal."
Hamilton, the fiscal visionary, knew that radical measures were needed to jump-start the new nation's economy. America needed to become a participant in the world market in order to some day become a contender. He saw that America had the resources to become a major power, but certain circumstances were standing in the way of that eventuality:
"The most wealthy and best established nations are obliged to pledge their funds to obtain credit; and it would be the height of absurdity in us, in the midst of a revolution, to expect to have it on better terms." Besides being cash-poor, Hamilton points out another circumstance preventing the young nation from obtaining foreign credit: its continuing union under the current unstable confederation which did little to inspire the trust of prospective foreign investors.
A strong federal government meant to Hamilton a government that had enough power to pass laws and create a fiscal environment beneficial to its people. That would be in the future, for now Hamilton pleaded:
"... we ought without delay, to ENLARGE THE POWERS OF CONGRESS. ...Nothing but a well-proportioned exertion of the resources of the whole, under the direction of the Common Council, with the power sufficient to give efficacy to their resolutions, can preserve us from being a CONQUERED PEOPLE now, or can make us a HAPPY PEOPLE hereafter."
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