Name: Athena Cheris
Date: September, 21st, 2018
Hamilton vs. Jefferson: A Reflection on Early Politics
Though they were both part of Washington’s presidential cabinet, Hamilton and Jefferson had different views on the future of America. Hamilton led the Federalist party, while Thomas Jefferson led the Democratic-Republican party. In, Washington’s farewell address he warned them both that political parties could lead to the eradication of rights established by the founding fathers. Yet a few centuries later, this country remains divided like it was when Hamilton and Jefferson debated on the future of this country. Their arguments continue to shape American politics today. Throughout our history, the United States has been closer to either Hamilton’s America or Jefferson’s America. The most consistently debated subjects throughout our times have been economy, government, and how we handle debt. Hamilton and Jefferson had different solutions and opinions on all three of these subjects in their time, and those different perspectives continue to persist as political debates to this day.
Hamilton and Jefferson had very different views on the economic future of the United States. Jefferson wanted a predominantly agrarian society and didn’t support mass-production. He supported small scale production and wanted no involvement in international trade. To support his opinion, Jefferson once wrote, “Those who labor in the earth, are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people.” In contrast, Hamilton wanted the United States to be a mercantile and trade-based economy. He wanted the United States to be heavily focused on manufacturing, instead; of the small scale production favored by Jefferson. Their views favored two different subsets of people. Jefferson’s economic plan supported small business owners such as, shopkeepers, backcountry farmers, and artisans. Hamilton’s plan supported traders and large producers like manufacturers, plantation owners, and merchants. The big question is who’s perspectives best represent how the United States has evolved into what it is today. Until the Industrial revolution, the United States was an agrarian society that supported itself through small rural communities like Jefferson envisioned. Today, the United States is Hamilton’s America. The United States exports $1.4 trillion and imports $2.4 trillion in goods. America also has the biggest manufacturing industry in the world producing 18.2% of the world’s goods. In the end, Hamilton’s economy reflects the current United States current economy the best.
The United States Government is reflective of both Hamilton’s beliefs and Jefferson’s beliefs. Hamilton wanted a more nationalized country and Jefferson wanted a more localized one. Hamilton did not trust the people to govern themselves. He thought that the federal government should have more power than the state government because he wanted to steer the whole country to success. He also wanted to protect the people from themselves. In, other words he feared tyranny of the majority. To explain who should hold the power in the Federalist Papers, he wrote, “a small number of persons…most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations.” It is clear that he thought the uneducated and poor should not be involved in the government due to their lack of knowledge. In the words of another famous Federalist, John Jay, “Those who own the country, ought to govern it.” His way of government was in effect for a short period time before Jefferson was president. Jefferson on the other hand believed that the state government should yield the power and that all white men should be able to vote. He thought Hamilton’s plan was unconstitutional. When Jefferson ran for president in 1800, he ran on the slogan Jefferson and Liberty. He wanted to give all white men the right to vote educated or not and liberate them from the oppression of the Federalists. This was the first election where both parties ran candidates and held campaigns, which started the disunion between American citizens. Then, between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans and now between Republicans and Democrats.
After the Revolutionary War, the United States was in a lot of debt. The states were in debt to the government and the government to their ally, France. The southern states had paid off most of their debt, but the northern states had not. Hamilton wanted to get rid of debt as soon as possible and proposed a five point plan to Congress in 1790. First, establish the nation’s credit worthiness. Hamilton thought that for America to be taken seriously, it would have to pay off all of its debt. He knew that an untrustworthy country would make foreign affairs much more difficult. To make paying off the debt nationally simple, he proposed that the national government should assume state debt. Second, create a national debt. Hamilton believed that the rich should not only control our country, but have a stake in it as well. To accomplish this he proposed, creating interest bearing bonds. Third, create a national bank. The national bank was going to hold the money collected from taxes, which is directly linked to the fourth point, enacting a whiskey tax. Since whiskey was a popular drink at that time it was supposed to raise money. Finally, Hamilton wanted to impose a tariff to get rid of the United States debt. Jefferson did not have a plan to get rid of the United States debt. He just thought that Hamilton’s plan was catastrophic. The south should not have to pay off the north’s debt because it was not their debt. The constitution did not give the national government the power to create a national bank. Imposing a whiskey tax, hurt the profits of small farmers whom Jefferson supported. To impose a tariff you need trade and Jefferson did not want the United States to be a trade based economy. In, the end Hamilton’s plan was used partially due to the fact that no one had another plan. Hamilton’s first four points were used in exchange for the movement of the capitol. Today, the United States capitol is still where Jefferson wanted it and some of Hamilton’s points are still in effect. Out of Hamilton’s four accepted points, three remain. To replace the national bank, the United States made The Federal Reserve System. America still has an alcohol tax, interest bearing bonds, and the United States still imposes tariffs.
In conclusion, the argument between Hamilton and Jefferson represents the political struggle and evolution that the United States has gone through and continues to debate to this day. The United States is still a young country, and it has not figured everything out yet. Our Founding Fathers asked themselves what type of country would (and should) America be and today America’s leaders ask each other how the United States should maintain our Founding Father’s vision.