While serving as Secretary of State in 1790, Thomas Jefferson rented a “mean house” at 57 Maiden Lane " for 106 pounds per year " and “not approving much of the stiff style and etiquette of New York he gave up all his time to the establishment of his new department, foreign affairs, and home." There was much to occupy Jefferson’s time while he was in residence here—in particular, the debt crisis of 1790. One June evening, Jefferson held a dinner party at his Maiden Lane house. But this was no ordinary dinner. Among the guests were Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, who were on opposite sides of a hot political issue. In his " Report on the Public Credit, January 9, 1790 ," Hamilton proposed refinancing loans owed to foreign creditors , funding the national debt with the issuance of new federal bonds, assumption of state debts incurred from the Revolutionary War, and an excise tax to pay for the as...
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