How Did Hamilton Support The Government In The 1790s

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.

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."

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).

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/).

In the beginning, The Articles of Confederation ruined all sense of a strong central government in the Colonies. The Articles of Confederation gave power to the states to govern themselves, and as we later learned, the idea to give power to the states to govern themselves individually was a very weak idea. Most people who didn’t own land, also known as freeloaders, didn’t have much or any say at all in the government. We needed change, and we needed it quickly. This is where, Alexander Hamilton, comes into play. Not only did he understand that a strong central government was crucial for a nation to succeed, but he had also understood that speaking out about his beliefs were just as important. His assertive and outgoing personality about his beliefs consequently helped him play a key role in the early form of the government.

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

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

Due to the enormous expense of fighting the revolutionary war, America was in debt as soon as it became a country. Both the national and state governments had accumulated large amounts of debt in the war effort. As the first secretary of the treasury, Hamilton had the responsibility of paying off the national debt, which was about $11.7 million to other countries and about $40.4 million to U. S. private citizens. In addition to the national debt, the state governments had also accumulated around $25 million of debt. In order to raise money during the war, the United States government sold bonds with the promise of buying back the bonds at a higher rate in the future. However, following the war the government was unable to fulfill that promise to the bond holders.

In 1789, Congress made up three departments in the executive branch of government. Two groups comprised in the Judiciary act with the act it established a Federal court with 13 district courts/three circuit courts serve the nation. Hamilton proposed that a new government pay’s off the millions of dollars in debts owed by Confederation government to other countries and individual Americans. Hamilton thought that the federal payment of states debts would give the states a strong interest in the success of the national government. When the government had to borrow money during American Revolution, it had issued bonds--paper notes promising to repay the money in a certain length of time. Original bond owners felt betrayed by the government because they had lost money on their bonds while new bond owners profited. Hamilton agreed to a proposal from Southern leaders to locate the new nation’s capital in South after moving to Philadelphia while workmen prepared the new city for the federal government. In 1790 revenue from tariffs provided 90 percent of the national government’s income.

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

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

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.

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

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).