Thomas Jefferson vs. Alexander Hamilton

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Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton entertained many differing ideas of how the United States (US) should be run, especially in relation of philosophical ideas, domestic policy, and foreign policy. Firstly, looking at the philosophical differences, each man seemed to be consistently on the two opposite side of the other. Thomas Jefferson believed there needed to be maximum public control, and the government needed to be decentralized. Therefore, there needed to be ways for everyone to get an education, so that they could have information and power. Jefferson also wanted to increase the percentage of family farms, and believed that having farms were the way to success. He was for the power of the common people, and abundantly suspicious of the upper class. Alexander Hamilton fancied centralizing the government, and have only few wealthy educated citizens able to lead. Hamilton was suspicious of the common people, and looked at rebellions as back-ups to those ideas. A strong national government was key, he said. To do this, the US needed to have an economy centered on commerce and industry. Secondly, the two had great differing opinions on domestic policy. Thomas Jefferson wanted to pay off all debts as soon as possible, but not assume the state’s debts. Leaving the states the responsibility of eliminating the debt he thought was best. On the issue of the existing revolutionary war bonds, Jefferson believed in paying back the original owners, the people who funded winning the war (mostly the common people). A protective tariff, Jefferson thought, helped the South more than the North, and thought it was not just. The Secretary of the Treasury did not fancy a levy dubbed The Whiskey Tax. This tithe would have greatly affected the... ... middle of paper ... ...ooked down upon additionally. Due to electors only being able to vote for President, the end result was a tie. To break the draw, the House of Representatives voted, and Thomas Jefferson came to be the third President of the United States. Due to this deadlock, the election led to the creation of the twelfth amendment. From the twelfth amendment, “they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President...The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President...he person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President”. The indicated election continues to affect who even our contemporary presidents are. Therefore, it is my conviction that the election of eighteen-hundred was a very critical turning point in United States history.

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