Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson



Thesis Statement

Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson are the most famous political figures in American Politics. The opposition of federalist and democratic is the well known argument of them. Their views are strongly aginst eachother.

Introduction

The Book American Political Thought a norton anthology is written by Isaac Kramnick. The book has significant findings of American political history and changes. This paper will examine the differences and arguments of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. They both have different ways of thinking and both of them oppose each other. The paper provides comprehensive findings and have analysed the material taken from the following book.

In February 1791, a day after reviewing Alexander Hamilton's opinion on the constitutionality of the national bank, and despite some lingering doubts, Washington signed the Bank Bill into law. Hamilton was influenced by several leading politicians of the era, none more so, however, than George Washington. It can be argued that if Hamilton and Washington had not developed such a close relationship, Washington may have been persuaded to accept Madison's view that the original holders should be compensated or Thomas Jefferson's argument that the national bank was unconstitutional. Hamilton's connection with Washington turned out to be his biggest asset. It is appropriate, therefore, before examining the necessity of the national bank, to recount the affiliation between Hamilton and Washington in order to understand why, in part, Hamilton was able to succeed in getting his bank plan passed.

It is interesting when reading through the letters of Hamilton and Washington in the early stages of the Revolution to recognize that many of the letters written by Hamilton echoed those written by his mentor. Both men consistently talked of national unity or, as Hamilton wrote to George Clinton in March 1778, “to preserve a national character.” As Richard Morris wrote, “in the years that followed that sense of nationalism was to be the most powerful intellectual bond between Hamilton and Washington. (Kramnick, 2009)” In Hamilton's Continentalist essays he expounded upon his ideas of national unity. When Washington's military conduct was being attacked by a political faction called the “Conway Cabal,” Hamilton was one of General Washington's most ardent supporters despite Hamilton's dissatisfaction when Washington refused his request for a combat command. It seems that Hamilton was willing to put “patriotism and knowledge of the country's essential need for Washington” above his own disaffection.4 Hamilton did eventually receive his own command and by the end of the war the two had mended their ties. In a letter to Washington on March 24, 1783, Hamilton said, “I congratulate your Excellency on his happy conclusion of your labors.”

Although the two statesmen wrote few letters to one another in the years after the Revolution, both agreed that the weakness of the Confederacy was a detriment to national unity and that a more centralized power was critical. When fears that Hamilton's ideas expressed at the Constitutional Convention would lead to the same tyranny America had fought to break with, Washington wrote to Hamilton ...