As secretary of the Treasury, Gallatin stressed simplicity in government and termination of the public debt. "The ground which I occupied in that body [Congress] is well known, and I need not dwell on the share I took in all the important debates and on the great questions which during that period agitated the public mind....". Gallatin also built a glass factory in 1796, the first factory of its kind west of the Appalachian Mountains. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. He remained in the public eye as a leader in the areas of fiscal responsibility and free trade (limited government regulation), constantly warning against speculation (high risk investments) and debt. An open rebellion was growing against the federal excise tax that Congress had imposed on distilled spirits. He moved to his daughter's summer home in Astoria, Long Island, where he died at the age of eighty-eight. During his time in the Pennsylvania Assembly, Gallatin worked to reduce the public debt left by the Revolutionary War and to abolish slavery. Refusing to deal through Russia, Great Britain expressed its willingness to proceed with direct negotiations, and commissioners from the two countries finally met at Ghent in August 1814. Gallatin earned a reputation as an expert in the area of public finance, and he was considered an able spokesman for the small farms and businesses he represented. Harry Ammon Gallatin laid the foundation for sound governmental fiscal (economic) policies that would guide the young nation for years to come. American Eras. Gallatin served as U.S. ambassador to France and to England before ending a public career that lasted almost four decades. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. During the summer of 1794, he urged all citizens to peacefully submit to the tax in order to restore law and order in the state. JAMES MADISON, was born on 16 March 1751 of a family that had been in Virginia since the mid-seventeenth century. While in office, he set up the House Committee on Finance, which was the forerunner of the present-day Ways and Means Committee (see box). These ideas inspired him to go to the United States in 1780, rejecting an offer to be an officer in the Hessian army sent by King George III to fight the American Patriots. During Albert's time at the Academy, his natural abilities and intelligence were recognized by several renowned scholars. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Albert Gallatin, in full Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin, (born Jan. 29, 1761, Geneva, Switz.—died Aug. 12, 1849, Astoria, N.Y., U.S.), fourth U.S. secretary of the Treasury (1801–14). He was returned to office in 1791 and again in 1792 with uncontested elections. ." Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Outliving many of his colleagues from the early days of the republic, he died on 12 August 1849. Land speculation is the buying of undeveloped frontier land cheaply with the intention of later reselling it to settlers at a higher price, thus making a profit. Historian Henry Adams labeled the Treaty of Ghent "the special and peculiar triumph of Mr. by the same analogy : for TJ’s inclusion in the instructions of some of Gallatin’s geographical queries, see the notes to Document IV . The county seat is Shawneetown. In 1789 he attended the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. He served his adopted country for 60 years as a congressional leader, Secretary of the Treasury, financier, ambassador and has been referred to as America’s Swiss Founding Father. A aron Burr may have killed Alexander Hamilton, but it was Albert Gallatin who killed Hamilton’s system for funding federal deficits. From 1795 until 1801, the House reappointed the Committee on Ways and Means to supervise the Fourth through the Sixth Congresses. Appointed by the new president, Thomas Jefferson, in 1801, he needed to ensure that the economy flourished while following the dictates of his party, which insisted on less control by the federal government and the country’s financial elite. He sold Friendship Hill to a Frenchman whom he had met in Paris. Because he had supported them in the past, the crowd listened to Gallatin’s pleas for moderation, and he helped minimize the military conflict that followed. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 5,589, making it the fifth-least populous county in Illinois. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Shaping of America, 1783-1815 Reference Library. ." He represented Pennsylvania in the Senate and the House of Representativesbefore becoming the longest-te… Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In 1793, Gallatin was elected to the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, but he was denied his seat for political reasons as there was a strong distrust of people who appeared to be foreigners. Gallatin served in the Pennsylvania state legislature from 1790 to 1792. Geneva was the birthplace of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the eighteenth-century democratic political philosopher, and as a young man Gallatin embraced Rousseau’s romantic ideas about returning to nature and celebrating the common man. He also helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812 (1812–15). local militia's use of force. Shaping of America, 1783-1815 Reference Library. Philadelphia: J. Encyclopedia.com. After eight years as one of the most influential figures in Sketch of the Finances of the United States was published in 1796, and Views of the Public Debt, Receipts, and Expenditures was published in 1800. In many ways Brown was a remarkable man. After the Revolution, Gallatin moved to the frontier area of western Pennsylvania, settling along the Monongahela River. However, Crawford fell ill and Gallatin decided it was time to retire and He was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1790 and reelected the next 2 years. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/gallatin-albert-1761-1849, "Gallatin, Albert (1761-1849) Steven Terner Mnuchin was sworn in as the 77th Secretary of the Treasury on February 13, 2017. Gallatin set out to survey and register their holdings in April 1784. Albert Gallatin is considered one of the most influential men of the early American Republic, and one of the most prominent Swiss-Americans in U.S. history. Encyclopedia of World Biography. James Monroe Gallatin's opinions were highly respected on a national level and his last pamphlet, Suggestions on the Banks and Currency of the Several United States, was well received. As the third secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin faced many obstacles. A student of the Indian tribes in North America, he founded the American Ethnological Society of New York (1842) and has sometimes been called the “father of American ethnology.”. However, the Federalists, who felt threatened by Gallatin’s persistent and informed attacks on their agenda, managed to nullify his election to the Senate. Although Gallatin favored rechartering the Bank of the United States in 1811, Congress refused, and America entered the War of 1812 with its monetary system in disarray. he brought down the countries debt the most then any other secretary Gallatin spent his remaining years as a diplomat, banker, and ethnologist. After a winter as a merchant in Maine, and a brief time with the colonial militia, Gallatin tutored in French in Boston in 1781. Although Albert came from an old and noble family, his parents were not wealthy. . Evidence suggests that his anti-Federa… Paul W. Glad Disappointed by the results, Gallatin purchased a wagon and loaded it with sugar, tobacco, and rum. He helped prevent a war with Great Britain over the Oregon Territory and, after retiring, studied the cultures of Native Americans. There are many websites available for the Whiskey Rebellion. Originally, it held power over both taxes and spending. They wanted to keep most government powers at the state level. U.S. House of Representatives.http://waysandmeans.house.gov/legacy/history.htm (accessed on August 13, 2005). Later, as secretary of the treasury, Gallatin Gallatin supported and secured the financing for the Louisiana Purchase and called for some federal support for improving roads into western lands and opening up the means for getting produce to markets. Gallatin was able to convince Congress to raise customs duties to help finance the war. “I think the most important thing in the book,” he said, “is the description in chapter 6 of why Gallatin and the other Republicans wanted to undo Hamilton’s system. Gallatin did not support the tax, but he spoke out in favor of the need for it at various public gatherings. Biographer Nicholas Dungan states he was: "America's Swiss Founding Father." This last effort earned him Federalist enmity after Gallatin became a congressman in 1795, as Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton saw it as meddling in his job. Albert Gallatin and James Madison worked to reestablish a legislative finance committee to monitor government taxes and spending. 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