A few prominent facts will place this great interest in a
just light before you. On the 30th of September, 1815, the funded and
floating debt of the United States was estimated at $119,635,558. If to
this sum be added the amount of 5 per cent stock subscribed to the Bank
of the United States, the amount of Mississippi stock and of the stock
which was issued subsequently to that date, the balances ascertained to
be due to certain States for military services and to individuals for
supplies furnished and services rendered during the late war, the public
debt may be estimated as amounting at that date, and as afterwards
liquidated, to $158,713,049. On the 30th of September, 1820, it amounted
to $91,993,883, having been reduced in that interval by payments
$66,879,165. During this term the expenses of the Government of the
United States were likewise defrayed in every branch of the civil,
military, and naval establishments; the public edifices in this city
have been rebuilt with considerable additions; extensive fortifications
have been commenced, and are in a train of execution; permanent arsenals
and magazines have been erected in various parts of the Union; our Navy
has been considerably augmented, and the ordnance, munitions of war, and
stores of the Army and Navy, which were much exhausted during the war,
have been replenished.
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