TROTTER, Alexander.

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Observations on the financial Position and Credit of such of the States of the North American Union as have contracted public debts: First edition of this exhaustive look at the early history of American finances from a European perspective. Trotter traces the history of the national debt in the United States. He reviews the banking system and funding for internal improvements, gives descriptions of particular canals and improvements, and comments on the "Durability of the Union." Unsurprisingly for an early 19th-century description of US finances, the author commits largely to an outsider's close examination of the Bank War, suggesting that Jackson's opposition to the US Bank would have disastrous consequences and could only have been motivated by political infighting.For additional context, Trotter also provides a geographical description of the US, particularly regarding its "influence on the trade and general prosperity of the country," including a sympathetic look at what he calls the ongoing "total extinction" of indigenous Americans by the government. "The public documents which relate to the treaties with the native Indians might create an impression that the emigration of the Indian tribes was voluntary... but such a conclusion would be much at variance with the truth... Those who have witnessed their departure from their homes or who have met them in their wandering... represent the scene altogether as truly heart-wrenching... The policy pursued by the governments o

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