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Economist
Building on his early commercial experience, Hamilton became a brilliant, self-taught economist. America needed him: its load of war debt was crushing. Appointed by President Washington to be the first Treasury Secretary in 1789, Hamilton solved the nation's debt problem and established a modern system of credit, over the bitter objections of less progressive opponents. By the time he retired in 1795, the United States, unlike most emerging nations, was fiscally sound, and poised to become a major financial power. |