On this date in 1787, the Constitutional Convention wrapped up in Philadelphia with the delegates accepting the document and sending it on to the states for ratification. Two years and one day later, the new U.S. government had to become a borrower.
This month 230 years ago, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton began negotiating a loan of nearly $192,000 from the Bank of New York and the Bank of North America. The money was needed to pay the salaries of President Washington and the members of the first Congress. The loan was obtained in February 1790, and paid off in June.
Today, the president’s salary is more than twice the amount of the first loan, and the debt of the state governments represented in Congress is about $1.15 trillion.
Profile America is in its 23rd year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online.
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