17951776 Club
Swan erases the last of America's debt to France; no foreign government is owed a dime
The Scottish-born Boston financier, acting as France's agent, repackaged $2 million in Revolutionary-era obligations into private shares sold across the U.S. and Europe.
By the summer of 1795, the United States still owed France more than two million dollars from the Revolution, a debt that carried the sting of dependence on a foreign power. James Swan, a Scottish-born Boston financier, stepped in as France's agent to help refinance the debt using newly issued U.S. government shares. In exchange, he took newly issued U.S. government shares and resold them to private investors in the United States and Europe, quietly moving the obligation from one government's ledger to thousands of private ones. For the first time, the United States owed no foreign government a dime…
