Editing American Revolution (section)

===National debt===
{{Further|Financial costs of the American Revolutionary War|National debt of the United States|Alexander Hamilton}}
[[File:HAMILTON,_Alexander-Treasury_(BEP_engraved_portrait)_(cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Alexander Hamilton]], the first [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] during the [[Presidency of George Washington]]]]
The national debt fell into three categories after the American Revolution. The first was the $12&nbsp;million owed to foreigners, mostly money borrowed from France. There was general agreement to pay the foreign debts at full value. The national government owed $40&nbsp;million and state governments owed $25&nbsp;million to Americans who had sold food, horses, and supplies to the Patriot forces. There were also other debts which consisted of [[promissory note]]s issued during the war to soldiers, merchants, and farmers who accepted these payments on the premise that the new Constitution would create a government that would pay these debts eventually.

The war expenses of the individual states added up to $114&nbsp;million, compared to $37&nbsp;million by the central government.<ref>Jensen, ''The New Nation'' (1950) p. 379</ref> In 1790, Congress combined the remaining state debts with the foreign and domestic debts into one national debt totaling $80&nbsp;million at the recommendation of first Secretary of the Treasury [[Alexander Hamilton]]. Everyone received face value for wartime certificates, so that the national honor would be sustained and the national credit established.<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''His Excellency: George Washington'' (2004) p. 204</ref>