Framing And Ratifying The Constitution

Two of the greatest American Political figures during the revolutionary era of the U.S were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Despite being such icons and both being revered by historians today, they were actually rivals. This could have been due to the conditions they were born and raised into, the same conditions that would shape their political outlooks as well. To see how their life developed how and why they became such iconic political figures, we must analyze both Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s lives up to the point whence their careers turned to politics.

After the colonies gained independence, the founding fathers soon found that becoming a new independent nation was going to be a difficult task. The biggest task was deciding on the division of power in the government. This issue divided the people into two groups, the federalists and the Jeffersonian republicans. Alexander Hamilton led the federalists and Thomas Jefferson led the republicans. These two important men in history would later show how the challenges of becoming a new nation. In this essay I will be analyzing the ideas of Linda K. Kerber’s “The Fears of the Federalists,” to Drew R. McCoy’s “The Fears of the Jeffersonian Republicans.” Furthermore, comparisons will be made about both essays to gain a better understanding of the struggles of government in early America.

George Washington had recognized Hamilton’s leadership abilities and promoted him as Lieutenant Colonel. He was also an innovator of military design, where he designed reports on the defects and how there could be improvement in the military. While Hamilton was working as an adviser for Washington, Hamilton had come to realize the Congress' weaknesses, including jealousy between states, which he believed came from the Articles of Confederation (http://www.ushistory.org/). In 1782, Hamilton was convinced that establishing a strong central government was the key to achieving America’s independence.

The ratification of the US Constitution in 1787 sparked a ferocious and spiteful debate between two large groups of people, those who supported the ratification and those who did not. Both sides were very passionate about their ideas yet they were so divergent, as one believed that the ratification could create a more powerful, unified country, while others worried about the government gaining perhaps too much control. The supporters and opponents equally had various strong reasons in their beliefs regarding the ratification of the US Constitution, the most common for the supporters being that the current government was heading badly, and a ratification would fix all the mistakes made originally and set the course for a successful government. On the other hand, the biggest concern for the opponents was that the ratification would give the government too much power, and there would be no controlling force to keep the government in its place.

After the Founding Fathers of America wrote our Constitution there was one more step they had to each achieve in order for it to go into effect: ratifying it. In order to ratify the Constitution nine out of the thirteen states had to agree to adopt it. The process of ratifying the Constitution turned into a debate between two groups: the Federalists and the Anti Federalist.

The two different visions of assembly of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton conveyed understandings of American power and the American people. For Hamilton, America's quality lay in the business industry. His America was one of delegates, specialists, speculators and banks. His party anticipated those would help these people battle in an overall business focus. Hamilton was suspicious of state governments, obliged as they were to slim neighborhood interests.

Before the Revolutionary War had occurred, many people were coming to the new colonies to start a new life; one of the people was Alexander Hamilton. He had come to the colonies after impressing people in the Caribbean and who then sent him to America to get a better education (“Alexander Hamilton”). Hamilton was an important figure in American history, but very few today remember who he was and what he did. Alexander Hamilton took a stand against traditional government by writing against and battling the British, fighting for the new U.S. Treasury, and arguing for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Everyone has heard the name Alexander Hamilton, but few are familiar with his views and actions regarding the survival of the young American republic. He could be recognized for anything from serving our fledgling country by fighting in the New York militia; to serving his community as a lawyer and as a national tax agent; to beginning his

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

Free government being an ideal, Hamilton concedes that the plan of the convention is a compound as much as the errors and prejudices, as of the sense and wisdom, of the delegates, a compromise of many dissimilar interest and inclinations. It has not claim to absolute perfection. Not expecting "to see a perfect work from imperfect man," (Federalist 85), Hamilton has praise for the Constitution. The system it establishes, "thought it may not be perfect in every part, is, on the whole, a good one; it is the best that present views ad circumstances of the country will

The people of North Carolina before and after the Revolutionary War seem to have one opinion. The people thought since they were an independent state, that they should have their own government system. The people did not want a government after so many failures. The Article of Confederation had their delegates to draw up better ways for the Constitution to make the people happy. This only ended up with people taking sides with the government. The Federalist was supporters of the Constitution, while the Anti-federalist was against them.

Whose side would you have been on in the 1790s, Thomas Jefferson’s or Alexander Hamilton’s? Both of these men served under George Washington in the first presidential cabinet, yet they had very different views of what government should be (Davis 86). My objective in this research essay is to inform the reader of why there was so much controversy between these two founding fathers, and to determine which side had the better views for our newly forming country.

Though both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson served as members of President Washington’s cabinet, the two held very different views on the newly founded U.S. government, interpretation of its constitution, and the role of the “masses” in that government. These conflicting views would develop in two political parties, the Federalists led by Hamilton and the Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson. Although both political parties presented enticing aspects, Hamilton’s views were much more reasonable and fruitful when compared Jefferson’s views; idealistic and too strict in reference to the constitution.

The argument between Federalists and Anti-Federalists might seem long gone to American citizens, but still their philosophical foundations shape the teams, scope and size of the battlefield. These philosophies go back to two lone men, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Both fought aggressively for a government based on their ideas, and both did make portions of the now-standing American government. This essay will outline the political, social and economic philosophies of both men, how their philosophies influenced the government today, and a closing opinion.

“Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty”(Hamilton). Alexander Hamilton(1755-1804) was a prominent founding father and wrote a collection of essays with James Madison and John Jay called the Federalist Papers. Hamilton believed in a strong central government, and wrote these essays to persuade the ratification of the Constitution. Historically, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson( were fierce opponents in politics with having completely different visions for the future of America, they agreed on the central goal of government. In The Declaration of Independence (DOI), Jefferson’s goal was to persuade his british readers that the American colonies were separating from the British Empire, and that the colonists had no choice. In The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson challenges his audience’s beliefs through the use of persuasive techniques.