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72 ESSAYS

The purpose of Congress to throw upon the Secretary the
burden of shaping the financial course of the government appears
in the first steps taken on the subject of public credit. The act
establishing the Treasury Department became a law on the 2d
of September^ 1789; and the nomination of Hamilton as Secretary
went to the Senate on the iith.^ The demand for action "for
the revival of public credit and the advancement of the national
honor " had already been brought before the House by the peti-
tion of public creditors living in Pennsylvania ; ^ and their petition,
on the day when the Treasury bill became a law, was referred to
a committee, consisting of Madison, Vining, and Boudinot. This
committee contented itself with recommending a mere declaratory
resolution that provision for the national creditors was necessary,
and that the subject should be considered at the next session.
