Despite pro-Constitution writers’ arguments that the new government’s powers were limited, those limits were tested very quickly. George Washington, the first President under the new Constitution, inherited a financial disaster of debt. His treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, proposed a central banking system–the Bank of the United States–to manage the national debt and issue currency. Nowhere did the new Constitution define “creating a bank” as one of the federal governments powers.
Tag Archives: US Constitution
The New Constitution: For and Against
The 1787 convention in Philadelphia created a document (the Constitution) which would radically reshape the United States. Establishing a “federal” system in which the central government held a great deal more authority than under the Articles of Confederation. Divided into executive (embodied in the President), legislative (Congress), and judicial (the federal courts), the new system gave what its authors asserted were clearly defined and limited powers to the federal government.