Preview

Feds vs Anti-Feds

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3184 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Feds vs Anti-Feds
Hamilton Vs. Jefferson

December 29, 2006 by Ando

hamjeff.jpg

I had intended to post Part II of the WWI question last night, but got caught up doing movie reviews on Life of Ando. So to slake your ravenous historical thirst in the meantime, here is my assignment from my history class this past week. If you’re really into American history and how the politics of the early Republic shook out, Jefferson vs. Hamilton is a great study. It’s also a little, I guess comforting, to know that as bad as we think today’s politicians are, politics was always a very dirty game. Like Bismarck said, “Laws are like sausages. Better to not see them being made.” And as Ecclesiastes says, “There’s nothing new under the sun.”

1) How did the political philosophies of these men differ?

Most clear thinking Americans could probably tell you at least the rudimentary facts of who Thomas Jefferson was. Far fewer would likely have a definite idea of who Alexander Hamilton was and what his contributions as a Founding Father were. Yet his conception of an American government was just as important as that of Jefferson. Both founders foresaw the new nation as a great future power, and both had very different maps of how to get it there.

Jefferson believed the nation’s strength lay in its agricultural roots. He favored an agrarian nation with most powers reserved for the states. He was very opposed to a strong central authority and believed that the people were the final authority in government. Jefferson also encouraged active support for the French Revolution

Hamilton favored a strong central authority. He believed a strong government was necessary to provide order so that business and industry could grow. He envisioned America becoming an industrial power. To this end he sought to establish a national bank and fund the national debt in order to establish firm base for national credit. Hamilton believed that the government should be run by those who were educated and wealthy rather

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson have different views about the future of America, but they both and intensions to better America by 1794. Hamilton believed in the government getting stronger with the rise of large corporations that can help provided jobs. Jefferson wanted to weaken the central government, and empower the states governments. Which view was more realistic and created a more secure system? With the Hamilton and Jefferson conflict, this helped raise political parties to decide what is good for the United States of America. Each view needed the other to create a government that would be strong enough to protect itself from its people and from external strife.…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Alexander Hamilton was brought in by Thomas Jefferson to lead the Treasury Department. Hamilton’s instant goal was to initiate our nation’s financial stability. Also, to revitalize economic development and bring the country’s most financial interest to government support. He believed that the aim of national greatness could happen if the government suffered from the same defects under the Articles of Confederation. Alexander Hamilton’s agenda had 5 parts to his financial plans.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Washington strengthened the government financially because during his presidency the financial system was built. George Washington himself did not create the financial system but Alexander Hamilton the secretary of the treasury did. After the Revolutionary War the United States had gathered a lot of debt because of the expensive cost it takes to fight a war. Hamilton saw this debt as a good thing. Hamilton saw debt as a good thing because he believed that a national debt was motivate and push the government and the people to work together to get the debt repaid. Hamilton combined each individual state debt into the national debt because of his belief that debt was beneficial. Hamilton's idea for reshaping the American Economy included creating a national financial institution. He proposed the idea of the First Bank of the United States. The bank would help make the new economy stable through a paper currency. Hamilton wanted the United States to become a mercantilist economy. It would benefit and help protect the American manufacturers through direct government Subsidies and Tariffs. This Protectionist policy would help the American producers to compete with inexpensive European imports. Thomas Jefferson had a polar opposite view of the economy than Hamilton who was running the economy during Washington's presidency. The belief of debt being beneficial was not held by Jefferson. Jefferson and his Secretary of the treasury…

    • 1442 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although Jefferson often showed a strong dislike for the Federalist laws and programs, when he took office he left many of the Federalist programs intact, and except for revoking the excise tax, the Hamiltonian system was mostly left as it was. However, this act of Jefferson’s went against many of the political beliefs held by his party and himself. Jefferson and Hamilton’s philosophies differed greatly in that Jefferson adhered to a weak central government, with most of the power in the hands of the states. He believed that the federal government’s power should be restrained and limited, so that it would not be able to become tyrannical or try and undermine the power of the states and the people.…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prolonging the life of the young country required contributions from both founding fathers. Despite an undying possibility of the federal government becoming far too powerful Hamilton’s ideas by themselves would of done far better than Jefferson’s. Hamilton’s want for industrial power and a much stronger central authority derived from his experiences during revolutionary wartime. Hamilton saw then, the extent the country would be able to function without a source of revenue and with very limited congressional power. Jefferson’s attempts to enact laws to allow states to maintain their former rights, and his support of agriculture in the U.S. created a successful balance as his ideas contradicted Hamilton’s. However if themselves had put Jefferson’s plans into action, an extremely weak government would have led to further great crises potentially leading to the destruction of the young nation.…

    • 501 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Washington was a very popular president, the only man to win a presidential election unanimously. Washington was not popular due to his political views, but for his great ability to lead. George Washington knew he could not manage the the growing nation alone so he established a cabinet to help him make decisions. As his Secretary of Treasury, George Washington appointed Alexander Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton became an important Federalist member of the first cabinet as the Secretary of Treasury. The financial situation of the country after the Revolution was the primary problem facing the new nation, and Hamilton developed a national bank to fix it. The national bank lent money to the government, safely held depostits, gave Americans an uniform currency, and promoted business. The national bank and other ideas of Hamilton helped the United States economy. As the Secretary of State, George Washington selected Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was the only Democratic Republican in Washington’s cabinet. Thomas Jefferson did not want a national bank because it was not in the Constitution and his political party, the Democratic Republicans, interpreted the Constitution strictly. Washington contributed the idea of neutrality. Washington wanted America to stay…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Shmoop Editorial Team. "Thomas Jefferson: vs. Alexander Hamilton" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Nov. 2012.…

    • 5544 Words
    • 23 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The country of the United States had many contributing factors to become what it is today. There are two important people that pushed against each other so much when America started, that they helped to shape the United States towards what it has become. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were such different people that they could not help but challenge each other to be the best they could. This led them to do their best work for our country, even if it was only to show the other who was right. Together, they contributed to providing the foundation for the American political system. Their policies and influences shaped the development of the new republic. Many times they disagreed, but this only helped our first officials to see that they should consider all sides if they were to run this new country. Hamilton and Jefferson were a great pain to each other, yet a great help to our country.…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Federalist Era

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Revenue was the new Federal Government’s most critical need at the time. The U.S had a great amount of debt following the Revolutionary War. Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, believed in economic improvement through capitalism. He envisioned a limited, yet assertive government that encouraged new fields of expertise, and fostered investment and entrepreneurship. Due to establishment of public credit, flow of capital became greater and Hamilton proceeded to establish the National Bank chartered by Congress. He believed that this National Bank would provide stable and flexible national currency and it would be a source for capital loans. Hamilton’s achieved his goal at creating the National Bank. His achievement revived the economy and established foundations for capitalism.…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamilton understood that a strong central government would be needed to keep the fledgling country alive. In order to keep a strong government that understood the problems at hand, it needed to be run by first class, educated men. Hamilton also makes a good point in saying that, though Jeffersonians thought the rich would corrupt the government in order to profit for themselves, the rich had nothing to gain as they were already at the top of the social ladder. Whiele Hamilton was a realist, Jefferson was a romantic. He lagged…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thomas Jefferson was a man who represented the Demcratic-Republicans. Some of his contributions consist of the Articles of Confederation3, and the Notes on the State of Virginia4. The Articles of Confederation established the national government in 1777 and was used to weaken the central government in order to strengthen the individual state powered governments. As the Notes on the State of Virginia was Jefferson stating how America would remain strong if they remained to their rural roots.…

    • 646 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Apush Essay

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Thomas Jefferson was able to help stable the government through contributing internal improvements and also external interactions. Thomas Jefferson was a strict constructionist meaning he wanted to ensue the Constitution and everything was refered to it and whether or not it was in the Constitution. This helped to stablize the new government because the strong leaders were following the law, which in turn helped the citizens to do so as well, giving the government more respect and power. Jefferson helped organize the Democratic-Republicans as a political party, providing leadership and giving the government respectable parties for the citizens to support. He also supported state rights and limited national government which helped to enact those ideals into the people. Through the Revolution of 1800, Jefferson assumed the position of president through a peaceful transition and it…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the 1790s there were two distinct groups that clearly emerged in society. These two groups were commonly known as the conservatives and the liberals. Both opposed each others ideas when it came to the subject matter of government in the United States. Among these two groups were some of the greatest men known in history, and I am going to talk about two men in particular. Thomas Jefferson, a liberal, and Alexander Hamilton, a conservative, shared different ideas on what should become of our government following the creation of our new Constitution.…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were two who opposed on most things and fought for what in which they believed in harshly, one was a patriot and the leader of the republicans, the other was a loyalist, leader of the federalists. The Patriot, Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia on April 13, 1743, he grew up with a old respective family and was a very smart and gifted. The loyalist, Alexander Hamilton was born in the british west indies on January 11, 1757 and grew up with no family or money but was also very smart and gifted. These two hated each other as being leaders of two different political parties, they fought over many things like what kind of government there should have been back in the 17-18 hundreds. They also had trouble agreeing on what the ideal economy…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These policies were directly opposed by Republican leaders such as Jefferson, who called his plans “unconstitutional.” Hamilton’s economic policies were a form of loose interpretation of the constitutional clause “necessary and proper”, whereas the Republican’s views espoused a stricter view. This differing view of the meaning of the Constitution further led to Federalist attempts to shun their opposing party through policies that were deemed unconstitutional. The Naturalization Act, Alien Act, and Sedition Act attempted to thwart Republicans from becoming citizens and inhibited the public spread of Republican ideas that opposed those of the Federalists. Despite these suppressive Federalist policies, Jefferson’s term of presidency intended to lead the country on a different path; he viewed the yeomen farming families, people who work and live on the land in which they own, as the future power and voice of America and subsequently, implemented various policies that characterized a Republican type of government. Whereas Federalist ideas viewed expansion of land as potentially dangerous, Jefferson championed ideas of westward expansion by purchasing the enormous Louisiana Territory from France’s leader Napoleon Bonaparte, which encouraged southern farmers to migrate from the south and seek out new fertile lands. In addition to his endeavor to expand into the west, he directly went against Federalist ideas of a stronger national government by actually…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays