Jefferson And HamiltonEssay Preview: Jefferson And HamiltonReport this essayAfter the American Revolution a conflict took place in the 1790s between the Federalists and the Antifederalists that implemented an intense force on American history. The Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, represented the urban trade interests of the seaports; the Antifederalists, led by Thomas Jefferson, spoke for the rural and southern interests. The debate between the two concerned the power of the central government versus that of the states, with the Federalists favoring the former and the Antifederalists promoting states rights.
Hamilton fought for a strong central government that would act in the interests of commerce and industry. He understood the requirement of organization and efficiency that supporters of the cause praised him for. Hamilton pointed out to the American people that they must have acknowledgement for manufacturing developments, marketable activities and the functions of government. Jefferson favored a form of government that was more democratic than that of England. Jefferson thought that the common people were capable of self-government to establish social equality. Jefferson desired to increase the opportunities for the common people to partake in government by lowering voting credentials. Jefferson was a powerful advocate for liberty which led him into political strife with Hamilton.
—Thomas Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, 1775-1943.
This quote is somewhat odd considering that Hamilton had a direct line to the American Constitution and his father’s views on the importance of representation.
“First, the right of every man to vote, and every citizen to hold office, is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. . . But we want that we may express ourselves on so important a point and so essential a subject as this, and this law no more applies to me than to any other man.” — Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Smith on the Laws of 1776 (1810)
This quote appears from an 1828 speech that Jefferson gave at the University of Missouri. He said at the University of Colorado:
When a man or woman, like all men, has a legitimate and legitimate claim to be a citizen, he has an entitlement to the suffrage of the State.
(Emphasis added.) He recognized a fundamental right in the United States Constitution for a person to be elected president. He understood the right the United States Constitution provides and took full responsibility for it. He recognized that the Constitution granted an independent and free, sovereign government, with a right to govern its citizens according to their will.
Hamilton argued that the democratic rights of Americans was recognized in the Declaration of Independence. It was to be said that “[n]o thing has the right to vote and make an application to the President of the United States to be subject wholly or partially to the same privileges as the people, unless such application shall be for a public purpose, the exercise of which shall be within the powers of the United States.”
Hamilton said that although America has a “legitimate and legitimate” right for citizens to be elected president, it “must not be excluded from the freedom to vote, and to hold office.” He noted that all states have their own procedures for selecting for election candidates that are “in the constitution or by their laws.”
In 1806, on a platform on the ratification of the Constitution, Jefferson wrote:
The Constitution of the United States recognizes that each citizen has his privileges and shall have his own representation in the State Legislatures. And we are of one opinion that this is true; and one of the things to be observed of the people is that when there is one State in which to form its electors, and two States in which to form its representatives, and that there is a rule by which the people who are elected shall be given general powers of representation, as the Legislatures shall design, every person in every State shall be bound by a certain convention, which is hereby established, or that shall have its name so fixed in laws that as in every State the same proportion of members shall be given to equal number.
If Madison and Jefferson made that declaration on that day, it is not clear whether they were speaking of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States.
Jefferson did not state that in 1838, the American flag was adopted from 1836 and raised in the new states. Jefferson does include this quote in the same speech at Jefferson’s funeral where Jefferson pointed out that, he believed, the Federalists and their supporters “do not hold that Congress, or any
Jefferson advocated for a more reasonable starting point of land ownership and development. Jefferson recognized the value of a strong central government in foreign relations, but he did not want it strong in other respects. Hamiltons great aim was more efficient organization and feared turmoil and thought in terms of order; Jefferson feared dictatorship and thought in terms of freedom
The United States Congress used both philosophies of the two men that led to an important interpretation of the Constitution. When Hamilton introduced his bill to establish a national bank, Jefferson objected.