Hamilton and Jefferson Contrasted
Contemporaries in politics at the beginning of the nation, Hamilton was for strong government; Jefferson was for the individual. Hamilton thought self-interest was the prime mover of human affairs; Jefferson looked to find lofty ideals. Hamilton was mostly interested in organizing federal power and getting the finances straight. Jefferson won the hearts and minds of his fellows and he is the one remembered in history as the better man in spite of his being a slaveowner (Cunningham 234). Both lived their lives for their country (
Hamiltonians, for the most part, were merchants, bankers, manufacturers, or professional men from New England and the Atlantic seaboard, along with some wealthy farmers and southern planters (Wong 1997). A sinking fund of revenue would be found for payment of the principal. When it looked like the plan was defeated, Hamilton went to Jefferson and asked him to help. The plan was based on import tariffs and an excise tax. " While Hamilton said Jefferson and Madison's politics were trying to destroy the State and the republican government (Bowers 57). Jefferson thoroughly disapproved of Hamilton's economic program and said it was "calculated to undermine and demolish the Republic. Jeffersonians, for the most part, were artisans, shopkeepers, frontier settlers, or owners of small farms in the interior regions of the South and West. The two were engaged in a huge struggle over the form of the government and how it related to society. Hamilton's 1790 plan for funding the debt depended on converting debts into interest bearing bonds to mature after a certain period. The Hamiltonian system got legislation passed and set up hundreds of employees and agents throughout the states, monitored revenue and expenditures, and was extremely competent, while Jefferson wrote the lofty ideals by which the nation lives today (Vidal 35). However, Congress hated the plan and debated it throughout the spring. Hamilton acquiesced and the Virginia congressmen voted for the tax plan, and Hamilton won (DeCarols, 2003). Over dinner Jefferson and Madison offered to help pass the financial plan if he would allow the Capital to be moved to the Potomac, rather than remaining in New York.
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