US Presidency
1815

The national debt, as it was ascertained on the ist of Octo ber last, amounted in the whole to the sum of $ 120,000,000, consisting of the unredeemed balance of the debt contracted before the late war ( $ 39,000,000 ), the amount of the funded debt contracted in consequence of the war ( $ 64,000,000 ), and the amount of the unfunded and floating debt, including the vanous issues of Treasury notes, $ 17,000,000, which is in a gradual course of payment There will probably be some ad dition to the public debt upon the liquidation of various claims which are depending, and a conciliatory disposition on the part of Congress may lead honorably and advantageously to an equitable arrangement of the militia expenses incurred by the several States without the previous sanction or authority of the Government of the United States, but when it is considered that the new as well as the old portion of the debt has been contracted in the assertion of the national rights and independence, and when it is recollected that the public expenditures, not being exclusively bestowed upon subjects of a transient nature, will long be visible in the number and equip ments of the American Navy, in the military works for the de fense of our harbors and our frontiers, and in the supplies of our arsenals and magazines the amount will bear a gratifying comparison with the objects which have been attained, as well as with the resources of the country.