By 1794, both Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had a clear vision for the destiny of this nation. By the end of the Reconstruction period in 1877, whose vision of America's future was closer to becoming a reality? Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were very distinct from one another. Jefferson was characterized as being elegant and methodical, while Hamilton was said to be insecure and impulsive. Jefferson preferred gardening and living in the country. Hamilton, on the other hand, favored urban living. His residence was in New York City particularly. Unlike Jefferson, who favored a strong democracy, Hamilton's strategy focused on giving the government more authority. He believed that the strength of the nation lay on agriculture. Jefferson was clearly not for the idea of a strong centralized government but advocated that the people owned the nation and should be given the final authority within the government (Doroudian, pg. 28). According to Hamilton’s system of the government, state governor and senators were to be chosen by special people and serve for life. On the other hand, citizens would elect their preferred members of national assembly but each member would serve for a period of three years. Then, state governors would be elected by the national governor but all power had to stem from the so called central government.
Formation of Dual Party System
It is clear that these two great men in the history contributed greatly to the formation of dual party system under which the United States operates today. Despite the fact that they played a critical role towards revolutionary efforts and formation of this country, Hamilton and Jefferson only worked together when George Washington appointed Jefferson as the first United States Secretary of State and Hamilton as the first Secretary of Treasury (Boyer pg. 95). From the onset, they fostered conflicting visions on the path that the United States as a country would take. At that moment, it was hard to resolve the conflict considering the fact that, both of them bore a lot of sense. The Europeans were becoming more successful by utilizing the agrarian tradition that Jefferson advocated. On the other hand, promotion of manufacturers and commerce as advocated by Hamilton was equally sensible. Each man believed so much in his visions such that, Washington resolved to make them his closest advisors. While Hamilton kept little trust on the popular will believing that federal government ought to wield considerable power that would steer the United States towards success, Jefferson trust was in the people as governors of the nation (Boyer pg. 120). He believed that this will be the only way to make America a great nation under the watch of the Europeans.
Hamilton's Vision vs Jefferson's Vision
The greatest challenge, however, was to determine which of these two visions came closer to the reality by the end of the era of reconstruction in 1877. By the end of this era, the war was won by the unions. This clearly demonstrated that the central government was in dominance (Piehler,2014). Again, the entire nation was being served by a single currency. This means that the idea pioneered by Hamilton was making more sense than what Jefferson stood for.
With all this mind, and looking at the turn of events, its right to conclude that, Hamilton is considered to be the father of different money matter including stock exchange. He wanted a strong central government as well as the rise of a great corporate world (Piehler, pg. 65). In the contrast, Jefferson preferred a weak centralized government and strong state governments not forgetting an agrarian ideology. However, in 1877, United States had a stronger central government as a result of the civil war. For that matter, its right to conclude that, Alexander Hamilton’s vision was much closer to reality as compared to that of Thomas Jefferson.
Work Cited
Boyer, Paul S., et al. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, Volume I: To 1877. Cengage Learning, 2013.
Doroudian, Milad. Essays in American History: From the Colonies to the Gilded Age. Createspace, 2015.
Piehler, G. K. (2014). Remembering war the American way. Smithsonian Institution.
