Two of the most important of the founding father’s in American history were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Of course, today’s history students remember Jefferson as the third President, and his many accomplishments, but it is largely the scholarly community that hails Hamilton as one of the most important shapers of the fledgling republic, and certainly, as Secretary of the Treasury from 1789 to 1795, one of the most important organizers of fiscal and foreign policy during those turbulent years from 1776-1800. While the two men were cordial, even collegial in many ways, they did differ on many issues surrounding the formation of the new republic, the Articles of Confederation, and ultimately, the debate surrounding the Constitution.
Hamilton was a political philosopher and economist, who served in the American Revolution as a captain from the New York militia, eventually ending up, as General George Washington’s senioraide-de-camp. In general, Hamilton emphasized an extremely strong central government (Federalism), and advocated that the central government fund debt, assume state debt, create a national bank, establish tariffs and taxes, and hold the power over the states to organize the union. By 1792 in fact, a Hamilton coalition had formed (against Jefferson-Madison), but the strong debate between another Federalist, John Adams, contributed to the splintering of that party and the eventual success of Jefferson. Hamilton may be best known for his death, in which he and Vice-President Aaron Burr dueled, Hamilton was wounded and died the following day (Ambrose, 2007).
Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the most influential of the founding fathers, promoting the ideas of republicanism in the new United States. He was a political philosopher, and knew many intellectuals from Britain and France. He favored the individual rights of states, and hoped for a limited federal government, separation of church and state, and saw the idea of a strong central government as tyranny. He was quite an intellectual; a statesman, architect, inventory, archaeologist, in fact, so learned that during a speech John F. Kennedy gave for the 1962 Nobel Prize Winners, Kennedy remarked, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House - - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone” (Kennedy, p. 347; Hayes, 2008).
As a political and social philosopher, Hamilton wanted to sever as many ties with Britain as possible. He wanted the United States to nationalize, industrialize, and quickly become a central power and avoid any possible reinvasion from Britain. Politically, he saw the educated elite ruling (Senators for life, if they performed), a tax on whiskey (which led to the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion), and, until his death, continued to argue for federal programs that would improve the union, public safety, agriculture, and most of all, industry. Today, we would call Hamilton a strong governmental centrist, with fiscal and military authority residing with the federal government only (Harper, 2007).
For Jefferson, Hamilton’s ideas were reminiscent of authoritarianism. While Hamilton wanted little to do with Britain, Jefferson believed in open trade and communication with Britain, France, and saw the United State’s emergence into the world of social, cultural, and economic affairs to be critical in the development of the new republic. Jefferson was far more agrarian than industrial, even commenting, “I hope we shall… crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and id defiance to the laws of our country” (“Favorite Jefferson Quotes.”) He was a leader in developing republicanism in America, and wanted a civic virtue to replace the British system, in which he believed Hamilton and Adams’ strong central government emulated. Economically, he was strongly opposed to the Bank of the United States, calling it more dangerous than a standing army. He did believe in individual rights, and that these rights (in homage to Locke) existed regardless of what governmental powers chose to acknowledge them. Individual liberty, the right to bear arms, and keep government out of the business of violating civil issues. A proper government, according to Jefferson, was one that prohibited individuals from assaulting other individual rights, but also ensured that it did not diminish liberty in its quest for regard, power, or law (Ellis, 1998).
Both Hamilton and Jefferson were influential during the period of the forming of the United States. Hamilton was more conservative, believing in the governmental need to control and hold established authority; Jefferson, more liberal, and while privileged himself, believed it was the agrarian common-person who actually led society.
References:
Ambrose, Douglas, and Robert Martin, (2007), The Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton:
The Life and Legacy of America’s Most Elusive Founding Father, NYU Press.
Ellis, Joseph J. (1998), American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Vintage.
“Favorite Jefferson Quotes,” From the Writings of Thomas Jefferson, cited in:
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff5.htm.
Harper, John (2007), American Machiavelli: Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of U.S.
Foreign Policy, Cambridge University Press.
Hayes, Kevin, (2008), The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson,
Oxford.
Kennedy, J.F. (1962), “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States,” cited in:
Simpsons’s Contemporary Quotations, 1988.