202. The National Debt.
202．国债
The National Debt was the price of independence. During the war Congress had been too poor to pay gold and silver for what it needed to carry on the war. So it had given promises to pay at some future time. These promises to pay were called by various names as bonds, certificates of indebtedness, and paper money. Taken all together they formed what was called the Domestic Debt, because it was owed to persons living in the United States. There was also a Foreign Debt. This was owed to the King of France and to other foreigners who had lent money to the United States.
国债是独立所付出的代价。在战争期间国会太穷了，拿不出用于战争的那些黄金和白银，因此，国会曾经许诺将来某个时间还这些钱。人们用各种不同的名称来称呼这些许诺要还的钱，如债券、债务证书和纸币。它们一并形成所谓"国债"，因为它们是欠那些住在美国的人的钱，还有一种"外国国债"，这些有的是欠法国国王的钱，有的是欠曾经借给美国人钱的人的钱。
203. Hamilton's Financial Policy.
203．汉米尔顿的金融计划
Alexander Hamilton was the ablest Secretary of the Treasury the United States has ever had. To give people confidence in the new government, he proposed to redeem the old certificates and bonds, dollar for dollar, in new bonds. To this plan there was violent objection. Most of the original holders of the certificates and bonds had sold them long ago. They were now mainly held by speculators who had paid about thirty or forty cents for each dollar. Why should the speculator get one dollar for that which had cost him only thirty or forty cents? Hamilton insisted that his plan was the only way to place the public credit on a firm foundation, and it was finally adopted.
亚历山大o汉米尔顿是美国历史上最有才干的财政大臣。为了奠定人们对新政府的信心，他提出赎回过去的债务证书和债券，用新的债券，美元兑美元。这个计划遭到强烈反对，大部分债务证书和债券的最初拥有者都已经在很早以前卖掉了这些东西，现在拥有这些东西的人主要是一些投机商人，他们过去是用三四十美分买到一美元。为什么投机商人应该用他花三四十美分买来的东西得到一美元？汉米尔顿坚持认为他的计划是唯一可以给公共信用以坚实基础的方式，他的计划最终被采纳了。