Jefferson's Treasure ― How Albert Gallatin Saved the New Nation from Debt

George Washington had Alexander Hamilton. Thomas Jefferson had Albert Gallatin. From internationally known tax expert and former Supreme Court law clerk Gregory May comes this long overdue biography of the remarkable immigrant who launched the fiscal policies that shaped the early Republic and the future of American politics. Not Alexander Hamilton---Albert Gallatin.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 twelve years because he was the only man in Jefferson's party who understood finance well enough to reform Alexander Hamilton's system. A look at Gallatin's work---repealing internal taxes, restraining government spending, and repaying public debt---puts our current federal fiscal problems in perspective.The Jefferson Administration's enduring achievement was to contain the federal government by restraining its fiscal power. This was Gallatin's work. It set the pattern for federal finance until the Civil War, and it created a culture of fiscal responsibility that survived well into the twentieth century.

An internationally known tax expert, Greg May has spent three years analyzing Gallatin's role in the finances of the Early Republic. Greg graduated from William and Mary with highest honors in history and from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the law review. After clerking for Justice Lewis Powell on the Supreme Court, he had a long career in tax and corporate finance. He and his wife live in Virginia.