Debt Controversy, The Virginia – Encyclopedia Virginia
At issue was whether or how to pay almost $34 million in debt that the Commonwealth of Virginia incurred when it sold bonds between 1822 and 1861 to raise money to subsidize construction of canals, toll roads, and railroads. The state sold most of the bonds during the 1850s for railroad construction and used the money to purchase stock in the corporations that the General Assembly created for constructing what at the time were called internal improvements. Most of the debt was in the form of bonds that paid 6 percent annual interest and matured in thirty-four years. The Virginia debt was by f...
Source: encyclopediavirginia.org