How Did Hamilton Support The Government In The 1790s

During the eight years under the Articles of Confederation, the national debt continued to grow. The country came up with solutions, but the states ignored them. A correspondent in the Independent Chronicle in 1787 plead, “How long are we to continue on our present in-glorious acquiescence in the shameful resistance that some of the states persist in, against federal and national measures?” (Humphrey 2003, 113). Printer Nathaniel Willis called the young country a “union in crisis” (Humprey 2003, 106). Lack of revenue and no way of forcing states to contribute was one of the major and most noted flaws in the Articles of Confederation (Henretta et al. 2010).

Major sources/regions of support for Hamilton’s economic program is merchants, landowners, Northern states (especially New England). Views on the Constitution is centralized government power- to protect the nation and the people’s liberties. Views on popular participation is government should be led by elites who have both education and property. Economic Policy is favored Hamilton’s financial plan: management of the national debt. Views on foreign policy is favored peace and a strong commercial. This is how Hamilton’s economic program had progressed throughout the time. He had supported the Constitution which he is a federalist.

Due to the weak powers and poor economic state resulting from the Articles of Confederation, Hamilton took the opportunity, under the new Constitution, to fix these issues. As a result, many controversial, yet positively-resulting actions were taken. For one, an excise tax was placed on domestic goods in order to alleviate the troubles emitting from the federal debt. Furthermore, he established a national bank in order to further expand and unify the country, putting them all under a controllable banking system rather than having several different systems, each with their very own currency. Prior to the ratification of the Constitution, the country was rather divided and the federal government had no control over fixing such problems in their country. As a result, especially during this point that he now has the power to mend the drawbacks of their old system, he saw “federal debt” as a sort of commonality between the states. Now that they’re all under a stronger government, they were forced to deal with this issue together. This created a sense of united between the nation and, overall, was an immense motivator of bringing the country together for the good of its future

He also feared the U.S bank would create a financial monopoly that would undermine state banks4. The idea also interfered with Jefferson’s idea of the United States being a primarily agriculture society, but Hamilton supported his argument with facts about England’s public debt policy and how it helped them form an empire, and fight and pay for their wars5. Hamilton inferred from this, that a financial structure with public debt included is what the nation needed to boost its

During the presidency of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson’s two distinct ideology lead to the creation of the two-party-system in America. Hamilton believed in a strong federal, or centralized, government and had a loose constructive view of the Constitution. On the other hand, Jefferson believed in a weak central government and had a strict constructive view on the Constitution. These opposing views clashed when Hamilton was the Secretary of Treasury at the same time Jefferson was the Secretary of State, both in influential positions that affected Washington’s decisions. Hamilton’s beliefs were accepted by the Federalist Party, while Jefferson’s were adopted by the Democratic-Republicans. Federalists were part of

The states were in huge national debt to foreign nations and influential private citizens. Wealthy Americans and foreign nations loaned money to America for the Revolutionary War that summed up to about millions of dollars. Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of Treasury, was in charge of strengthening the national government. Hamilton introduced the idea assuming all debts. This caused the Southern States to be enraged because most of them had already paid off their debt, and did not want to pay taxes to pay off the debt of Northern States. The states did not pay the taxes because the Articles of Confederation could not tell the state what to do. Alexander Hamilton proposed a Bank of America that would collect taxes and would be funded by U.S.

His vehement opponents, including [Thomas Jefferson](/history/us/pres/jefferson) and [James Madison](/history/us/pres/madison/), wanted to maintain the strength of each of the 13 individual states within the Union and not allow the national government to swell in size and power, taking command of the nation's finances. Hamilton's opposition only agreed to his proposed economic policies when, in 1790, they made a deal that in exchange for their support, Hamilton would in turn support moving the nation's capital near the Potomac, making possible what is now [Washington, DC](/usa/states/dc/).

After the Founding Fathers ratified the Constitution, they realized that they had to deal with sixty-three million dollars debt that they owed to those who took part in the American Revolution. In order to pay back this debt Alexander Hamilton created a financial program. However, some Republicans such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison thought that his plan was unconstitutional because one would need to use the necessary and proper clause which most people feared because it gave the government too much power. This, however, is not so Alexander Hamilton’s financial plan however was mostly constitutional because it allowed it to use the powers as well as responsibilities congress already had such as print its own form of currency, issue

The Revolutionary War is the splitting point in which America breaks off from Britain. Not only did it give America freedom but also allowed a country be built from the ground up. The Founding Fathers were very influential in establishing the government of the country and because of their different views caused the government to split into factions called the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party. Alexander Hamilton is the founder of the Federalist Party and wrote fifty-one of the Federalist Papers, a series of articles written to support the Constitution. He fought in the Revolutionary War as Senior Officer and worked closely with George Washington, who appointed him as Treasury Secretary when he was elected President. Hamilton

3. What was Hamilton’s plan for debt reconciliation? Hamilton suggested funding the debt by selling government bonds, and further proposed that state debts be assumed by the national government. Why was Madison opposed to it? Madison believed that Hamilton's plan "was betraying the ideas of the American Revolution."

After the Revolutionary War the United States had a massive debt to deal with, but because of the Articles of Confederation the federal government could not raise taxes to pay off the debt (Blake). States were responsible

States like Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Virginia, which had already paid off their debts, saw no reason why they should be taxed by the federal government to pay off the debts of other states like Massachusetts and South Carolina. Hamilton's critics claimed that his scheme would provide enormous profits to speculators who had bought bonds from

Hamilton believed the federal government had to play a much stronger role in the establishment of a national economic system. With the creation of institutions including a national bank and a national mint, Hamilton sought to establish a system to allow a free flow of commerce within the United States and with foreign countries. As illustrated throughout Hamilton’s Financial Plan, “The American economy had traditionally rested upon large-scale agricultural exports to pay for the import of British manufactured goods. Hamilton rightly thought that this dependence on expensive foreign goods kept the American economy at a limited level, especially when compared to the rapid growth of early industrialization in Great Britain.” this shows hamilton was effective in forming great stability in the united states economically.

Gordon sums up the American economic history in six chapters of his book. He explains that the United States had taken on huge debts following to the American Revolution. In order to pay such debts back, Hamilton created the federal bank and convinced the Congress to issue federal bonds. This way the federal government could make interest payments on time, build credit and keep the inflation from rising. Hamilton thought that the national debt could be a useful tool in order to create capital for the new industries. In his book, Gordon also recalls that soon after the 1812 War the seventh President of the United States cleared the government debts thanks to surpluses deriving from high tariffs. Then, he explains that the introduction of the first Federal income tax in America during the Civil Was turned out to be crucial in order to investigate how to distribute the tax

In the American nation, he developed love of regulation, efficiency and organization. Hamilton strongly showed that America must possess credit for the development of government operations, trade, industry and business activities. He stressed the importance of the central government to take over the debts of the state that were unpaid in the Revolutionary period (Scott, 2008). The central government was endorsed by the American Constitution to charge and collect taxes as well as pay liabilities (Robertson, 2005). Such operations can be professionally handled by a central bank. Therefore, Hamilton was characterized by thinking creatively and critically as he observed the potential of the trade industry’s immense power (Pancake, 1974).