Jefferson vs. Hamilton

The two giants of the Washington administration were also the men whose ideas would personify the great debate about what the United States would look like in the future.   They were Alexander Hamilton, who was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and Thomas Jefferson, the first Secretary of State.   Hamilton supported a strong federal government with the power to direct the economy, and a society built on industrial interests.   Jefferson, on the other hand, believed in limited power for the national government and a society of independent land-owning farmers.   As part of their ongoing feud, both men supported rival newspapers and regularly criticized their opposition in print.   These attacks were not mild policy disagreements, but mudslinging that escalated into character assassination.   Their feud, moreover, led to the development of the first American political parties.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

The Secretary of the Treasury, in obedience to the order of the House of Representatives, of the 15th day of January, 1790, has applied his attention at as early a period as his other duties would permit, to the subject of Manufactures, and particularly to the means of promoting such as will tend to render the United States independent on foreign nations, for military and other essential supplies; and he thereupon respectfully submits the following report....

The expediency of encouraging manufactures in the United States, which was not long since deemed very questionable, appears at this time to be pretty generally admitted....

There still are, nevertheless, respectable patrons of opinions unfriendly to the encouragement of manufactures ... It has been maintained, that agriculture is not only the most productive, but the only productive species of industry. The reality of this suggestion, in either respect, has, however, not been verified by any accurate detail of facts and calculations; and the general arguments which are adduced to prove it, are rather... [continues]

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