secretary of the treasury alexander hamilton wanted the government to take over war debts of the states, and pay this debt by?

The new American authorities faced huge ecomic challenges in the 1780s. As a result of war, the federal debt was $54 million with interests. The states owned another $25 million. Paper money issued by the Continental Congress was useless and foreign credit unavailable. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton advocated an expansion of federal taxation; a tariff and a tax excise on whisky, for example. He said that the federal government should take over and pay off all debts incurred by the states during the Revolutionary War.

He wanted the government to tax luxuries such as booze and jewelry.