In today’s governmental system, it is rare when two cabinet members who serve together have opposing opinions on political and economical views. But this was the case when George Washington was president of the United States in the 1790s. Choosing Thomas Jefferson to be the head of the Department of State, as well as turning to Alexander Hamilton, and appointing him as Secretary of the Treasury (Henretta et al 195). These two men were extremely intelligent, Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and Alexander Hamilton served as Washington’s secretary and advisor during the Revolution as well as being the leading person of the Constitution (Johnson165). Washington having known about these two men, wanted them to work as his cabinet with the mindset that they would accomplish great things, little did he know, these men supported two different political views.
Both of these Founding Fathers, supporting two different “political parties,” had their own economical, political, and world views. Thomas Jefferson viewed America as a model for the world because it allowed the people to pursue and discover their own destiny. He believed that the nation was destined to open toward a new era, because the free people were immaculate of the moral energy to change the world in a new way (Couvares 5). That is when he set his vision to America’s society and stated, “Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God.” Jefferson then believed that strong, independent farmers should have a say in all political concerns. At that time, he was holding a steady pace to the economy’s wealth, and believed that it should continue on as an agricultural economy (Henretta et al 198-199). Jefferson was heavily know...
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...adelphia: Childs and Swaine, 1791).
Johnson, Michael P. "Document 10-1 President Thomas Jefferson’s Private and Public Indian Policy.” Reading the American Past Selected Historical Documents. 5th ed. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 188. Print. (From The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vols. 3 and 4, ed. Henry A. Washington. Washington, DC: Taylor and Maury, 1853-1854).
Johnson, Michael P. "Document 10-3 A Slave Demands That Thomas Jefferson Abolish Slavery.” Reading the American Past Selected Historical Documents. 5th ed. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 196. Print. (From A Slave to Thomas Jefferson, November 30, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Liberty of Congress.)
Henretta, James A., Robert O. Self, and Rebecca Edwards. America a Concise History. Vol. 1: To 1877. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2013. N. pag. Print. Pages 195, 196, 198-199
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson brought many different viewpoints and strengths after the establishment of the Constitution but they both put the nation’s stability first and wanted to preserve the wellbeing of the people first by Adams ending the Quazi war and Jefferson making the Louisiana Purchase.
Eibling, Harold H., et al., eds. History of Our United States. 2nd edition. River Forest, Ill: Laidlaw Brothers, 1968.
Jefferson feared the immigrants could explode into “unbounded licentiousness” doing so would bring down the curtains of the new republic. He also feared that unless men obeyed their moral sense and exercised self-control they would “live at random” and destroy the republican order. In Jefferson’s view, slavery was not only a violation of black’s rights to liberty, it also undermined the self-c...
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Longman, 2013. 245. Print.
The post-revolutionary war period of the Unites States saw the establishment of the first party system and an enlarging gap in viewpoints between the wealthy and the common man. The contradictory views of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were primarily responsible for the rise of political parties from 1783-1800.
Henretta, James A., and David Brody. America: A Concise History. Vol. 1. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009.
“Hamilton feared anarchy and loved order; Jefferson feared tyranny and loved liberty” (Tindall & Shi, 2010). Jefferson had an agricultural background due to his family. Unlike Hamilton who favored industrialism and manufacturing to make the United States a rich nation, Jefferson favored agriculture and felt that the states themselves and the common people should carry more power than the federal government. Hamilton was seen an elitist, who despite his poor background, saw the common people more as a means to an end. He considered them as the workforce and the base of income by levying taxes. In his opinion only rich and educated people should be a part of the government and that the federal government should carry all the power. Thomas Jefferson was appalled by Hamilton’s willingness to demonstrate military force against common people who were standing up for their rights.
Jefferson’s agricultural viewpoint was vastly different from Hamilton’s manufacturing perspective. Though they both envisioned a great and prosperous nation, they had contrasting opinions on how this should occur. Hamilton, a Federalist, believed the rich and powerful should be the central government for all people, as they knew better how to foster and protect the em...
Henretta, J. A. and Brody, D. (2010). America: A Concise History, Volume 2: Since 1877. 4th
Walens, Susann. A. United States History Since 1877. Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT. September 2007.
Both Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were prominent members of society during the era after the revolution. Yet while these two men came from similar backgrounds and both believed in liberty and independence, neither of the two men could stand each other. This was mainly due to the fact that the two men had radically different views on various subjects, and neither was willing to give up or alter their view. Alexander Hamilton, one of the most important people of the time, was the first Secretary of the Treasury. Utilising federal power to modernize the nation, he convinced Congress to use an elastic interpretation of the Constitution to pass laws that Jefferson deemed unconstitutional.
Henretta, James A and David* Brody. America: A concise History . Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. Document.
3. Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, eds., America Past and Present Volume II: since 1865 sixth edition (New York: Longman 2002).
Roark, James L. et al., eds. The American Promise: A Compact, Vol. I: To 1877. 3rd edition. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.
Whose side would you have been on in the 1790s, Thomas Jefferson’s or Alexander Hamilton’s? Both of these men served under George Washington in the first presidential cabinet, yet they had very different views of what government should be (Davis 86). My objective in this research essay is to inform the reader of why there was so much controversy between these two founding fathers, and to determine which side had the better views for our newly forming country.