In 1795, a private financier paid off the entire US national debt
A Scottish-born financier accomplished the nearly impossible in 1795 by personally paying off the multi-million dollar debt the United States owed to France following the American Revolution.
James Swan, a wealthy merchant and privateer, took on the burden of the entire United States national debt in 1795. The young nation owed over two million dollars to France for its military support during the Revolution, a sum the U.S. government struggled to repay.
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