Encountering the “Other” through Banking and Finance

One of the most under-appreciated members of the founding generation is Albert Gallatin, the Secretary of the US Treasury Department between 1801 and 1813, and a negotiator for the Ghent Treaty that ended the War of 1812. Gallatin is very much forgotten in the public mind. In his biography of Albert Gallatin published in 1957, Raymond Walters, Jr. stated that “[o]utside scholarly circles . . .  few Americans recognize his name, and fewer still comprehend what it stands for.” Although Gallatin is forgotten in the public mind, historians have recognized and studied his contribution to the growth of the young republic, particularly in the areas of finance and diplomacy.  What sorely need are the effects of his policies on marginalized groups, in particular African-American slaves and Native Americans. This paper accordingly analyzes Gallatin’s banking policies, particularly his policies regarding the First Bank of the United States, and how they affected slavery. My argument is that Gallatin’s banking policies contributed to the expansion of slavery by offering cheap money through the First Bank of the United States.