A

PUBLIC CREDIT ACT

PUBLIC CREDIT ACT. The Public Credit Act was a federal statute enacted after Alexander Hamilton's "First Report on the Public Credit" of 14 January 1790. The act provided for the payment of the government's obligations at par with interest (except that Continental currency was to be redeemed at a hundred to one in specie); the assumption of state debts for services or supplies during the American Revolution; and the authorization of loans to meet these obligations. The act was approved 4 August 1790. The act helped get the support of security holders for the new government.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ferguson, E. James. The Power of the Purse: A History of American Public Finance, 1776–1790. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961.

James D. Magee/A. R.

See also Confederation; Money; Revolution, Financing of the.