For years, there has been a baseless contention floating around like the below: the United States was bankrupt as a result of the Revolution. This assertion completely ignores history and conflicts with historical documents, particularly the Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury. And proof that the above contention is erroneous is available on the Net for ready downloading.
Years ago, I obtained PDF images of the Journals of the Continental Congress. I have provided those files to Jon Roland, a good friend of mine who built the Constitution.org website. He has posted those journals here.
These files cover the years 1774 thru 1789. If you wish to read first hand accounts of the Revolution, study these journals.
After ratification of the US Constitution and the meeting of the first Congress, the Treasury Department was created, and the act so creating it required annual reports from the Secretary. Years ago, I found that Google had scanned and posted all of these reports, and I downloaded them and provided them to Jon, who has posted them on his website.
These files cover the years 1789 thru 1980.
Here is what history and these documents conclusively show. After the Revolution, Congress assumed the Revolutionary war debt of the States. Further, some States that claimed large tracts of land to the West transferred those lands to the United States to be sold. Georgia claimed huge tracts west of the present Georgia, as did Virginia, New York, etc. I live in North ‘Bama, which at one time was part of Georgia, as was Mississippi. Georgia released the lands for 'Bama and Miss to the US and these lands, in addition to huge tracts further north, were similarly transferred. Basically, the lands east of the Miss River up to the west boundary of the first 13 colonies were available for sale and settlement. Sale of these hundreds of millions of acres was a substantial revenue source for the United States.
In January, 1835, the United States had a total debt of “0", which means that all Revolutionary debt was paid. See.
I also attach a couple of pages from the relevant Annual Reports to show summaries of outstanding debt and statements of the Secretary. In 1836, the debt had grown to 58,000 bux, from the prior year which was "0".
Larry
This note responds to the below:
Larry said:
Uncle Sam is not "liable" for payment of a single FRN: there is no law
that exists that authorizes them to be a liability of Uncle Sam.
FRNs are liabilities of the FR Banks. If Uncle Sam is not liable, how
was there any bankruptcy?
The Federal Reserve Act authorizes the Federal Reserve to make the notes to be used as an accounting method, regardless of how the terms are stated in the act.
Uncle Sammy does not have to be liable on each, individual FRN in order to be liable on the total debt incurred that uses FRN as the accounting method.
Uncle Sammy has been bankrupt since 1787 (which Larry will not admit), and regardless of any other law, the U.S. Constitution Article VI, clause 2, says that, inter alia, the supreme Law of the Land includes "all Treaties made" meaning that the Treaty of 1783, article 4 prohibits the U.S. from making any law that would impede the creditors' recovery of the full value of all bona fide debts. There is no record of the 18 million French Livre + 10 million Dutch Guilders debt being paid on time (November 1787), therefore the USA began its life in a bankrupt condition.
Larry asks "... how was there any bankruptcy?"
Obviously, there is bankruptcy because there is debt that has not been paid.
The debt was not paid on time in 1787.
The debt was not paid on time in 1930.
The debt was not paid on time in 1980.
Another name for "Bankruptcy" is "reorganization."
How many "government reorganization acts" have there been since the 1930s?
Every one of these government reorganization acts is a re-affirmation of the bankruptcy.
Sometimes, I think that Larry asks these kinds of questions just to can provoke discussion.
Bernie