hamilton and jefferson essays

hamilton and jefferson essays Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton resulted in the formation of the first political parties. The Federalists adopted Hamilton's philosophies; Jefferson helped bring together the Democratic-Republican party. The views and ideas of these two political parties are still seen everywhere in government today, both Hamilton and Jefferson had extremeley important insight on how the government should be ran. What was to be Jefferson's chief problem for many years soon became apparent. He and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton were completely at odds in their thinking. Jefferson, with his faith in the rational mind and his optimistic view of popular government, placed his trust in the land and the people who farmed it. He believed that the purpose of government was to assure the freedom of its individual citizens. With his fear of tyranny, he distrusted centralization of power and favored instead the spread of power among the federal, state, and local levels of government. Thomas Jefferson said, A people having sovereign power should do for itself all it can do well, and what it cannot do well, it must do through its ministers. The people...need to be guided by a council or a senate. But in order for people to trust it, they must elect its members... The people are admirable for choosing those to whom they should entrust some part of their authority. Hamilton, on the other hand, distrusted popular rule. "The people!" he once exclaimed, "the people is a great beast!" Whereas Jefferson favored an economy based on agriculture that stressed individual freedom, Hamilton worked to promote commerce, industry, and a strong central government, under which, he believed, the economy would flourish. He believed that to preserve order and the alliance between business and government, the moneyed class and the wealthy aristocracy should hold all political power. Jefferson retorted, ...