Historians often disdain the Big Seven, but in our current economic crisis we should remember the large debt we had after the Civil War, and the principled stand our next seven presidents made to slash the national debt and establish U.S. credit around the world–and thereby increase the character and reputation of American business everywhere.
The U.S. faced colossal debt from the Civil War, and the Big Seven–those presidents after Lincoln–put the nation’s financial house in order.
During the Civil War, the U.S. national debt increased from $65 million to $2.7 billion–more than a forty-fold increase from 1860 (before the war started) to 1866 (the first year after the war ended). Would our nation’s leaders make an effort to pay off this debt, or would they instead court voters with new federal programs? For the next 27 years, the Big Seven–Presidents Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, and Harrison–all moved in the same direction. They had budget surpluses each year, 27 straight years, and in so doing they chopped off two-thirds of the U.S. national debt. In 1893, that debt was down to $961 million, and, despite a downturn during that decade, the U.S. was where the international action was. We attracted record numbers of immigrants from Europe, we attracted capital from leading financiers abroad, and our products–from steel rails to kerosene lamps–were often the finest in the world. The U.S. was strong in large part because the Big Seven made sure our credit was strong.
Let me highlight a few accomplishments of the Big Seven. President Hayes made sure our paper money that had been issued during the Civil War would be backed by gold; President Grant helped abolish the income tax, which spurred investment; President Cleveland vetoed 414 bills during his first term–many of them spending bills that would have drained the U.S. treasury.
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