Albert Gallatin (1801 - 1814) (2024)

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What was the significance of Albert Gallatin? ›

In 1843, the New-York Historical Society elected him as their president. That same year, he co-founded the American Ethnological Society and served as its first president. This, in combination with his study of Native American languages have led many to call Gallatin the “father of American ethnology.”

In 1814 he helped draft a peace treaty as a member of the U.S. Peace Commission at Ghent. Gallatin then served as U.S. envoy to France from 1816 to 1823 and to Great Britain from 1826 to 1827.

Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, was a chief critic of Hamilton's methods of debt management, and made it his priority to reduce public debt. This worked for a time, reducing the public debt to $45.2 million by 1811, but was derailed by Jefferson's "Louisiana Purchase."

By the time Gallatin left office, he had abolished internal revenue taxes, slashed federal spending, and repaid half of the national debt. The Jefferson administration's enduring achievement was to constrain the federal government by restraining its fiscal power. That was Gallatin's work.

Gallatin helped Thomas Jefferson prevail in the contentious presidential election of 1800, and his reputation as a prudent financial manager led to his appointment as Treasury Secretary.

Founded in 1802, the city was named for Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury under two U.S. presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. During the American Civil War a Union garrison there was captured (August 1862) by the Confederate general John Hunt Morgan.

1786 Gallatin purchases the property of Friendship Hill. 1788 Gallatin enters politics during the U.S. Constitution ratification controversy as an Anti-Federalist.

He urged the national government to build a series of canals along the Atlantic seaboard from Massachusetts to the Carolinas; build interior canals and roads; and establish communication between the Atlantic and midwestern rivers and with the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes.

In 1793, Pennsylvania's Albert Gallatin, who had emigrated from his native Switzerland during the American Revolution, made a dynamic addition to Republican forces in the Senate.

Explanation: To decrease the national debt by half, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Gallatin implemented several strategies. One of their main approaches was reducing government spending. They cut back on military expenses and reduced the size of the army and navy, which helped save money.

How did the US national debt get so big? ›

It began rising at a fast rate in the 1980's and was accelerated through events like the Iraq Wars and the 2008 Great Recession. Most recently, the debt made another big jump thanks to the pandemic with the federal government spending significantly more than it took in to keep the country running.

Albert Gallatin (born Jan. 29, 1761, Geneva, Switz. —died Aug. 12, 1849, Astoria, N.Y., U.S.) was the fourth U.S. secretary of the Treasury (1801–14).

Stepping down as Treasury Secretary in 1813, Gallatin devoted himself to ending the War of 1812, culminating in the Treaty of Ghent in 1815. Gallatin's final service to the Madison administration was recovering America's financial standing by convincing Congress to charter the Second Bank of the United States.

The two central ideas to Gallatin's argument regarding the annexation of Texas are likely related to the notions of treaty conflicts and the potential for continued annexations as a consequence of the initial act.

He was the owner of a sizable plantation on the banks of the Ohio River in the Greenbottom area of Cabell County. Prior to West Virginia's statehood, he served as a member of the United States Congress as a representative from Virginia. He was later elected to serve in the First Congress of the confederate states.

Jefferson believed that cities were breeding grounds not just for economic and political dependency, but that they generally attracted an urban underclass. An unemployed and perhaps unemployable urban proletariat was dangerous to peace and social stability.

History. Albert Gallatin High School was originally created in 1961, consolidating the Masontown and Point Marion high schools at the present-day AG Middle School South campus, near Point Marion.