Jefferson and Hamilton

The post-revolutionary war period of the Unites States saw the establishment of the first party system and an enlarging gap in viewpoints between the wealthy and the common man. The contradictory views of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were primarily responsible for the rise of political parties from 1783-1800.

Alexander Hamilton exerted the most influence in the new Federalist Party. He believed that only an enlightened ruling class could produce a stable and effective federal government. The government therefore needed the support of wealthy men. Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans defended more the rights of the common man and an agrarian society with little power from the federal government. His basic principle was "in general I believe the decisions of the people in a body will be more honest and more disinterested than those of wealthy men."

The Republican Party attracted more of the common people while the Federalist Party drew support from the aristocracy. Although neither side was willing to admit to it, these institutions were known as the "first party system." Both parties stance on who should have more power in the government contributed to the largely divers views of the common man and the wealthy man.

When the French Revolution grew to its most radical peak the Federalists reacted with horror as citizens overthrew the aristocracy. In launching the New Ship of State Hamilton said, "The cause of France is compared with that of America during its late Revolution. I own I do not like the comparison...well informed men must equally unite in the doubt whether this [free and good government] be likely to take place." Thomas Jefferson's response was "I still hope the Revolution will issue happily...The livery of the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest, and was ever such a prize won with so little innocent blood?" Many Republicans even imitated French Jacobins in dress and in speaking. The difference between the Federalist and Republican social philosophies is most easily seen among their different reactions to the French Revolution.

Federalists called for a national debt to be funded and hoped to create a large national bank credited by wealthy men. He defended it in a plan presented to Congress by claiming "where the authority of the government is general it can create corporations...we must employ all the means which relate to its regulation to the best and greatest advantage." Jefferson and the Republican felt the bank was unconstitutional and his opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank (1791) read "I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid that "all powers" not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the people...the incorporation of a bank has not been delegated to the United States by the Constitution." Hamilton's rebuttal can be seen in a letter to George Washington that reads, "It is not denied that there are implied as well as express powers [in the Constitution] and that the former are as effectually delegated as the latter." Both parties reaction to the Constitutionality of a national bank show their contrasting beliefs in how the strictly the Constitution was to be interpreted.

Federalists also called for an excise tax to be placed on distillers of alcohol. Hamilton argued in Overawing the Whiskey Boys that "you have said "the Congress shall have the power to lay excises to pay the debts and provide for common defense" you have then pronounced and decreed that your representatives in Congress shall have the power to lay such an excise and nothing since to reverse or impair that decree." The Whiskey