ions which may hereafter be agitated, considered, and answered.
For the present it is sufficient to observe, that no methods have
hitherto been adopted to produce a revenue by any means adequate to
the current expenses. The public debt, therefore, is large and
increasing. The faith of the United States is pledged to the public
creditors. At every new loan it must be pledged anew, and an appeal is
now made to the States individually, to support the public faith so
solemnly pledged. If they do, it is possible that public credit may be
restored, if not our enemies will draw from thence strong arguments in
favor of what they have so often asserted, that we are unworthy of
confidence, that our union is a rope of sand, that the people are
weary of Congress, and that the respective States are determined to
reject its authority. I fear that a mere verbal contradiction of these
assertions will have but little effect. No words will induce men to
risk their property upon the security of a nominal union. Your
Excellency will be able at once to determine whether that union is
more than nominal, in which any part shall refuse to be bound for the
debts of the whole, or to contribute to the general defence. I must be
permitted, however, to observe, that in matters of public credit long
delay is equivalent to direct refusal.

Despotic governments are in war superior to others by the union of
efforts, the secrecy of operations, and the rapidity with which every
wheel may be moved by one sovereign will. This superiority, however,
is amply compensated to free governments by the ardent attachment of
their citizens, and the general confidence, which enables them to make
exertions beyond their force, and expend in one year the revenues of
many. A single view of our enemy, in the unequal contest she now
carries on, will demonstrate these advantages more clearly than any
arguments. The credit of Great Britain is not only her chief, but it
is almost her only support. Inferior in everything else to the
associates combined against her, she still makes head everywhere, and
balances the opposition through the four quarters of the globe. While
we feel the force of these last struggling of her ambition, we must
admire the source from whence they flow. Admiring, we should endeavor
to imitate, and in order to succeed, we need only to make the attempt.
There was a time when public confidence was higher in America than in
any other country. Hence the exis