Alexander Hamilton, George Washington’s Treasury Secretary, in his first “Report on the Public Credit” in 1790,
put forth the concepts of “assumption” and “redemption.”
He argued that the federal government should assume the Revolutionary War debt
and pay those debts at “face value” in full to the bearers of such debt on demand.
In order to redeem the $75 million of bonds, Hamilton promoted the creation of a “sinking fund”