Debt and Taxes
As a young nation, the United States had acquired a massive amount of debt during the Revolution. A severe depression affected the nation during 1784-85. Problems between farmers in debt and collectors in Massachusetts led to events such as Shays' Rebellion. The South was especially affected by the economic problems. Almost 60,000 slaves were lost during the Revolution, almost 30,000 in South Carolina and Georgia alone. To create more financial problems for the South, Great Britain refused to import Southern goods into the British West Indies, one of their largest markets. Eventually, Hamilton's idea of paying off the debt would bring about better relations with other countries.
Read more about this topic: America's Critical Period
Famous quotes containing the words debt and/or taxes:
“Good government cannot be found on the bargain-counter. We have seen samples of bargain-counter government in the past when low tax rates were secured by increasing the bonded debt for current expenses or refusing to keep our institutions up to the standard in repairs, extensions, equipment, and accommodations. I refuse, and the Republican Party refuses, to endorse that method of sham and shoddy economy.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“The prairies were dust. Day after day, summer after summer, the scorching winds blew the dust and the sun was brassy in a yellow sky. Crop after crop failed. Again and again the barren land must be mortgaged for taxes and food and next year’s seed. The agony of hope ended when there was not harvest and no more credit, no money to pay interest and taxes; the banker took the land. Then the bank failed.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)