Thomas Jefferson And Alexander Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Jefferson was an economist born in1755 and passed away in 1804, besides his economist role he served as a political philosopher who participated in writing down the American constitution then acting as constitutional lawyer. His constitutional role lay in his co writing of the Federalist Papers, which was a major part of the American constitution.

Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 and 1826 and was the third president of the United States of America assuming leadership in 1801 to 1809. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the among the patrons of the Republican party in the United States, among his most publish ed achievements was the purchase of t he Louisiana (1803) and Lewis Expedition and the Clark Expedition between the years 1804-1806.(Hellfand 2008).

Similarity between the two men

Both were philosophers and contributed a lot in the fields through out their lives, Jefferson demonstrated his ability as a philosopher through his established contacts in Britain and the French world, he build his philosophy around the independence of the country and had strong opposition of a strong federal government, instead choosing to concentrate the powers in the state level.

Other strong stands that Jefferson took was the opposition of t he church continuing to operate jointly with the state to this he authored a book entitled Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom which among other things held a strong opinion on separation of the state and the church.(Joyce 2003).

Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton was an equally strong political figure though his political inclinations took more on policy issues as opposed to the combative style Jefferson took, among the most talked about similarities between the two is the initial admiration of the British systems, he also insisted on the need to have a strong government which would concentrate actual power at the state levels, the only point different with Jefferson’s was that he indicated that an equally strong and powerful status should be given to the central government only that theirs would be implied powers.

Differences

This formed the bulk of the information between these two, as they seemed to disagree on most issues that arose within their years.

Hamilton had no much interest in combative politics in fact he resigned from his role as a congress representative to start law practise on the other hand Hamilton had an observable passion for combative politics that led him to become the president of the US.

At time when Jefferson supported self sufficient states Hamilton supported a strong federal government which would regulate funding to the states, through an all powerful congress, this role would also lead to the formation of the first central bank of t he United States.

The other major difference among the two was their party ideologies Hamilton was a strong proponent of the Democratic Party which strongly supported his fiscal goals as well as his foreign policies that would see increased trade between the United States and Britain. On the other hand a coalition headed by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson strongly opposed these policies as was the general stand of the Republicans at the time.(Hamilton 2001).

Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton

The difference again came in the wake of the 1800 elections where now the established parties that is the Republicans under Thomas Jefferson and Democratic Party where Hamilton was a major policy maker, Behind Jefferson was another renowned policy maker John Adams who opposed Hamilton’s ideas, Jefferson won the elections his star shone from then on as Hamilton’s dwindled, to his death through a duel with Jefferson’s vice president.

Reference

Hamilton, A. Alexander Hamilton: Writings. Library of America 1st edition, 2001.

Helffand, J. An American History, Yale University Press, 2008

Joyce, A. Thomas Jefferson, Short interpretive essay by leading scholar, Sage Publications, 2003.