Talk: "Jefferson's Treasure: How Albert Gallatin Saved the New Nation from Debt"

Lunch and Learn Series: Talk by Gregory May

When: Thursday, Dec. 6, 12:30 to 1:30 PM

Where: 48 Wall Street, 5th Floor

Talk will be followed by Q&A and book signing. General admission $5; students free. Ticketes here [1].

To this day, the fight over fiscal policy lies at the center of American politics. Jefferson’s champion in that fight was Albert Gallatin—a Swiss immigrant who served as Treasury Secretary for 12 years because he was the only man in Jefferson’s party who understood finance well enough to reform Alexander Hamilton’s financial system.

Gallatin first came to national attention as a rebel spokesman in the tax uprising later called the Whiskey Rebellion. Despite anti-immigrant bias and Hamilton’s attempts to destroy him, he became the Congressional leader of the Republican opposition during John Adams’s administration. After the Republicans elected Jefferson as President, Gallatin took charge of the Treasury—the largest and most powerful department of government. By the time Gallatin left office, he had undone Hamilton’s system and set the country’s finances on a bold new republican course.

Author Gregory May takes a penetrating look at Gallatin's rise to power, his tumultuous years at the Treasury and his enduring influence on American fiscal policy. By probing deeply into the evidence, the book exposes the visceral motives behind the Republican financial reforms and shows why Gallatin more than Hamilton was the nation’s financial founder.

Sponsored by the Museum of American Finance