Republican Attacks Against Alexander Hamilton

Republican Attacks Against Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton’s Federalist Party and the Democratic Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson had polarized views on the majority of the important political issues. These two political parties which possessed differing opinions and views pertaining to the future of the U.S. government were persistent in their respective arguments against each other. The strongly contrasting views of these two parties are the foundation of the puissant and sometimes callous attacks by the Republicans against Hamilton and his economic plan. Although Alexander Hamilton was viewed as an arrogant self-promoting individual, the primary reason he faced fierce opposition from the Democratic Republicans against his economic plans was strictly rooted in the fundamental differences that Hamilton and the Republicans held when debating their proposed structures of the U.S. government.

From the inception of the Federalist Party founded by Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic Republican Party spear headed by Thomas Jefferson, both parties had rarely discovered common ground on an issue that they could agree upon. Hamilton and his Federalist Party believed in a strong National Bank, a strong army and navy, and that the Articles of Confederation were weak and should be eliminated. The Republicans believed the opposite. They argued that the strong national government would limit democracy and limit the powers that states could have. The Federalists ideas were supported by urban citizens because of the economic stance that the party took which would benefit the industrial growth of the United States. The rural inhabitants were the main supporters of the Anti-Federalists due to the parties backing of an agrarian nation. Having all of these differences between Hamilton and the Republicans, it is undeniable that attacks against Hamilton’s economic plans by the Anti-Federalists were primarily based upon the differing views of the parties and not because of his eccentric personality.

Alexander Hamilton was viewed as an arrogant, self-promoting opportunist by many people who were familiar with him. His arrogance was often displayed publicly, such as when he summoned a personal friend to help him find a wife and claimed that he was indifferent to which political side she should support because he believed that he harbored arguments that would swiftly convert her to his Federalist views. Some of his issues could be blamed on his abnormal childhood. At the ripe age of 11, living on the Caribbean island of Nevis, Hamilton’s mother perished. From that point on, he began working and when he was 14; his brilliance was recognized by his employer who sent him to New York to attend a preparatory school. These events alone are dramatically irregular from those a common child would experience throughout their childhood. These events can serve as a source of his peculiar personality which many people found unpleasant; but these slight