Abstract

The Inflation of The Attorney - General

The article discusses the enormous accession to powers and responsibilities of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, which had resulted from the relation of the General Government to banks and the currency created by the war. This officer at the foundation of the Government was charged simply with the duty of collecting the revenue, keeping a proper account of it and disbursing it in the manner and for objects prescribed by the U.S. Congress. This was the whole extent of his functions down to 1860. He was not authorized or expected to frame schemes of taxation, or estimates of receipts or liabilities. The secretary was not even allowed to have a seat in Congress, or to exert any direct influence on that body in favor of or against any financial plan. But all this was changed by the war.