[...]... forced the Dutch to borrow, and tax, heavily In response, over the first half of the fifteen hundreds the financial and fiscal systems of the Netherlands, particularly the county of Holland, slowly strengthened By the latter part of the 1550s, Holland was able to sell significant quantities of tradable long-term debt obligations to voluntary investors at both at home and abroad.5 By the 1560s, however, the. .. assets—sometimes land but more often their crown jewels and stockpiles of precious gems, bullion, and other high-value, low-volume items The ancient revenue of … kings,” one early chronicler explained, “was not only sufficient to enable them to support the splendour of royalty and defray the national expenses, which under the feudal system were comparatively small, but also to furnish the means … of hoarding up what. .. conclusion of the war, provision for the payment of arrears, economic growth and development, the creation of a “sinking fund,” and the consolidation of the debt into perpetual bonds allowed the government to lower the interest paid on some portions of the debt to 5 percent By the 1720s, the British government paid only slightly more than the Dutch for long-term funds That y the 1720s, the British... others novel (Chapter 3) The war was won but the cost was high The nation began the world (as it were) in debt.” Some states began to repay their obligations and even a portion of the national debt owed by Congress, but the nation was hurting economically and the government was essentially bankrupt The 12 One Nation Under Debt Constitution was bitterly contested but its eventual ratification gave the. .. in distant lands eager for good investments Through such trading, the interests of the governed and the government became one The debt blessed the nation as bankruptcy turned to honor and despair to hope The fruits of their labors now secure, the people worked hard and smart Not all of their innovations succeeded, but, all told, their farms flourished, as did their factories and ports The nation s debt... were personal ones, in no E arly rulers were notoriously bad credit risks After all, they were kings whose powers were largely unchecked by rule of law way binding the nation that they ruled Early rulers were notoriously bad credit risks After all, they were kings whose powers were largely unchecked by rule of law According to an early chronicler, Edward III of England “was Parentage 19 driven to the. .. blessings combined with a good dose of antiof the U.S national debt debt and antifinance ideology, conwere clear America’s financial spired to end the national debt’s exissystem rivaled, and in some tence during the administration of Andrew Jackson But from its ashes ways bested, those of Britain, soon arose a second national debt and Holland, and the rest of the a plethora of state debts Americans developed... collectively known as the Netherlands, where the experiences of the Italian city-states mixed with the financial practices of medieval Europe The main form of private and public finance in the north, the long-term mortgage of land called a ground rent, morphed into the mortgage of tax revenues In France, the tax mortgages became a tool of corruption as most were sold to crown cronies at scandalous discounts In... business alone, but rather from the codevelopment of each.8 The “square of power” framework developed by famed historian Niall Ferguson lays bare the intimate connection between home plate and first base According to Ferguson, four key institutions link government to the financial system the legislature, the tax bureaucracy, the national debt, and the central bank The first creates and monitors the second,... superpower status, the Netherlands remains one of the world’s richest countries.8 The English government paid the Dutch little heed at first and continued to fund its wars, including its long civil war, in traditional, and suboptimal, ways James I died considerably in debt; Charles I borrowed large sums on the Continent by pawning jewels and mortgaging his lands but could never get out of debt During the . without the prior written permission of the publisher. 0-0 7-1 5439 4-5 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-0 7-1 5439 3-7 . All trademarks are trademarks of their. Europe, the noblest and the most infa- mous in the world, the fi nest and the most vulgar on earth. It is a quintessence of academic learning and a paragon of fraudulence; it is a touchstone for the. Unbound: Finance and the Creation of the American Republic History of Corporate Finance: Development of Anglo-American Securities Markets, Financial Practices, Theories and Laws History of Corporate