# Alexander Hamilton on Finance, Credit, and Debt

1 Books March 6, 2018 ![Cover of Alexander Hamilton on Finance, Credit, and Debt](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/Richard%20Sylla_Alexander%20Hamilton_article.jpg?itok=5lQ4Ubsj) By Richard Sylla and David J. Cowen > Professor Sylla and co-author center Hamilton's writings on finance among his most important accomplishments, making his brilliance as an economic policy maker accessible to all interested in this Founding Father's legacy.

While serving as the first Treasury Secretary from 1789 to 1795, Alexander Hamilton engineered a financial revolution. Hamilton established the Treasury debt market, the dollar, and a central bank, while strategically prompting private entrepreneurs to establish securities markets and stock exchanges and encouraging state governments to charter a number of commercial banks and other business corporations. Yet despite a recent surge of interest in Hamilton, U.S. financial modernization has not been fully recognized as one of his greatest achievements.

“Alexander Hamilton on Finance, Credit, and Debt” by Professor [Richard Sylla](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/richard-sylla) and co-author traces the development of Hamilton's financial thinking, policies, and actions through a selection of his writings. The authors provide commentary that demonstrates the impact Hamilton had on the modern economic system, guiding readers through Hamilton's distinguished career. The book showcases Hamilton’s thoughts on the nation's founding, the need for a strong central government, confronting problems such as a depreciating paper currency and weak public credit, and the architecture of the financial system. His great state papers on public credit, the national bank, the mint, and manufactures instructed reform of the nation’s finances and jump-started economic growth. Hamilton practiced what he preached: he played a key role in the founding of three banks and a manufacturing corporation, and his deft political maneuvering and economic savvy saved the fledgling republic's economy during the country's first full-blown financial crisis in 1792. Professor Sylla and co-author center Hamilton's writings on finance among his most important accomplishments, making his brilliance as an economic policy maker accessible to all interested in this Founding Father's legacy. ## To learn more, visit [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Hamilton-Finance-Credit-Debt/dp/0231184565/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518214546&sr=1-5)

## More from Richard Sylla

- [What Alexander Hamilton Would Think of Today’s National Debt.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/what-alexander-hamilton-would-think-todays-national-debt)
- [US Politics and Corporate Speech: A Two-Edged Sword](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/us-politics-and-corporate-speech-two-edged-sword)
- [Professor Richard Sylla offers analysis on how a European-style national health insurance, where the government would take over the health industry, could impact pharmaceutical companies](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/news/professor-richard-sylla-offers-analysis-how-european-style-national-health-insurance-where)
- [Joint research from Professor Richard Sylla addressing financial systems, economic growth and globalization is referenced](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/news/joint-research-professor-richard-sylla-addressing-financial-systems-economic-growth-and)
- [Professor Richard Sylla weighs in on a story examining the role the federal government should play as Congress continues to negotiate the next coronavirus crisis relief bill](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/news/professor-richard-sylla-weighs-story-examining-role-federal-government-should-play-congress)