In the late 1700s, Alexander Hamilton was appointed Secretary of Treasury by George Washington. It can be assessed whether or not Alexander Hamilton was more influential than George Washington in those first years under the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton set up multiple ways to pay off the nation’s immense debt. Hamilton founded the Bank of the United States which is known today as the Federal Reserve System. Hamilton influence also extended into making the United States a commercial nation instead of an agrarian one. George Washington’s influential years came before the constitution, before and during the American Revolution. Alexander Hamilton was “more influential than George Washington in the first years under the constitution” because he was the leading force in trying to pay off America’s debt, he set up the united bank and commercial nation still used today, and George Washington’s true time in the …show more content…
Hamilton had a vast majority of ideas; from combining state and national debt to the whiskey tax. Now, these two examples had a fair amount of opposition, but each was adopted. Combining state and national debt not only forced every American citizen, no matter if their state had paid off their debt or not, to pay taxes and gave the government more money. This financial plan also gave the government itself stronger, more steady footing in running the new country.
The Bank of the United States was mainly protested because of its modelling after the Bank of England. Hamilton’s main purpose of founding this bank was to prevent inflation. This was done by having the bank issue currency so that Congress did not print off more money to pay off debt and cause inflation. The Bank of the United States shows explicitly how influential Hamilton was during this time because this bank stabilized the country then and is known as the Federal Reserve System
The creation of the first national bank in the United States was of utmost importance in setting precedence for how much power the constitution actually grants the government. The debate over whether to create a national bank raised many questions over the constitution that hadn’t been tested before. It also raised questions about what the government can do when the constitution has no written clause on a certain subject. In looking at the arguments from Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson regarding a national bank, people can find out more about how some of the leading founders of the Constitution wanted to see the United States government run.
At this time the government was funding its debt through private banks such as the Bank of North America and the Bank of New York. Not satisfied with the structure of American banking, Hamilton reported to Congress the need to establish a National Bank in December of 1790. The Senate created a committee to study Hamilton’s proposal. On the committee were men who shared Hamilton’s ideas in fiscal matters, and that of a strong federal government. One of the members, General Schuyler, was Hamilton’s father in law. It was of no surprise that a bill arose out of the committee supporting Hamilton’s plan to incorporate a Bank of the United States.
Hamilton wanted us to start to push our own goods. Industrialization was essential in his views. (Farless) He believed that a strong government would provide a good business that would allow industries to grow. He established a National Bank and funded the National Debt so that the United States would have a national credit that would standardize a national currency. Hamilton argued that the bank would provide stability to the specie-starved American economy by making loans to merchants, handling government funds, and issuing bills of credit; much as the
Fixing financial policies is very important. A national bank would establish financial policies. This bank is chartered under the Federal government. Hamilton believed in the need for banks to fix financial problems such as providing credit to people and to stimulate the economy. The Federalist party funding the old revolutionary wars debt and the state's debt. “The Senate passed it handily on January 20, 1791, and the House followed in early February” (pbs.org). This shows that hamilton's bank plan easily went through congress and it was passed. After all this information lets
Hamilton drew inspiration from the “British national banking system” and saw fit a federal bank to aid the Union with war debts, establishing a national currency, securing taxes and enforcing “government subsidies to encourage American manufactures” (Pearson). Naturally, Jefferson and his Republicans were horrified by the idea of granting the national government more authority, claiming that endorsing a bank charter would mirror British
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.
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
Hamilton is a fascinating character whose ambition fueled tremendous success as a self-made man. He had many major regions of support for help. He had merchants, land owners, and Northern states and the main northern state was New England. He had many views on the constitution. This also included the powers of the national and state governments. He centralized government power to protect the nation and the peoples liberties. Hamilton also implied powers and strong government. He also lost the interpretation of the constitution. Hamilton had many views on popular participation in government. He thought that government should be led by elites who have both education and property. He had views on economic policy with debt, taxation, and the central bank. Hamilton had management over the national debt. He also had tariffs and excise taxes to provide revenue creation of the first Bank of the United States.
The early enactment of a National Bank would never have existed without Hamilton’s drive. He single handedly planned and set the foundation for a bank, which was essential to his fiscal philosophy. His presentation to congress was so detailed and thorough that a majority if the House even needed explanation as to the rudimentary function of the bank (Mitchell 197). Jeffersonians opposed this plan because they had a strict view of the constitution, which did not call for a national bank. Hamilton used the elastic clause to justify this, and felt that the bank was “necessary and proper” to the function of the government. He also knew that the politicians he needed
Alexander Hamilton, though, worked for a more complex economic system. He planned out a national debt, public credit, a national bank and a plan to pay off the debts the nation had accrued. He advocated to accept the old debts of the Articles of Confederation, war debts, and state debts under his economic policy because it gives the government some legitimacy, and it allows for the government to obtain credit from other countries easily.
The mysterious man behind the United States ten dollar bill is Alexander Hamilton who was appointed by President George Washington as the first Treasury Secretary of the United States in 1789. Congress urged Hamilton to run a report on public credit since most of the resources had been exhausted and the national debt was at an all time high, he then later presented the First Report on the Public Credit in January 1790 and a Second Report on Public Credit suggesting the need of a National Bank in December 1790. Aside from being one of the United States founding fathers, the First Report and Second Report were one of Hamilton’s most influential and undoubtedly innovative pieces of work because he established the first financial systems of principles
After Washington acknowledged the organization, Hamilton puts his unparalleled learning of monetary way to deal with use and transformed into the essential Secretary of the Treasury. He adequately fought for the suspicion of state commitments by the focal government and the establishment of the key national bank – a private, however most of the way government-asserted association. He steadily settled the measures of cash related trading. In light of his tries, the money related soundness of the United States was restored. Hamilton's accomplishments as Treasury Secretary were not refined without a fight. His congressional opponents endeavored to exhaust him by asking for point by point gives a record of the workings of the treasury office with incredibly short transport dates.
In 1787, our founding fathers wrote the constitution of the United States. The constitution became the law of 13 states. As the new country was getting started, the leaders had to decide what they wanted the country to look like and how to deal with financial problems the government faced. Everyone had different opinion of how to handle the economic situation America was facing. The country was divided into two groups. Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton thought the best way to solve America’s finances was to control inflation, his solutions to the problem was to combine European investment, government bonds, increase levies and taxes and use the money to pay our debts.
Alexander Hamilton set the economic precedent for the future with his thoughts on the Government 's role in managing debt and the economy in constitutional America. Alexander Hamilton 's voices his plea for a National bank in his persuasive essay “For the Banks” (See Document 1), stressing that it was essential in post-Revolutionary America. Hamilton and his party thought a large federal government was necessary due to the flaws they noticed in the Articles of Confederation culminating in Shay’s rebellion. As Zinn says
Hamilton came to America from the West Indies with ideas for the way government should be ran, especially after seeing flaws in the Articles of Confederation. He believed in a strong, centralized government and made that clear in the Federalist Papers, which he wrote fifty-one out of the eighty-five essays, defending the Constitution. In addition, he fought long and hard for the ratification of The Constitution, and to eliminate the State’s government entirely. After aiding George Washington in battle, Washington appointed Hamilton as the Secretary of the Treasury in 1789. He became the designer of this department and set a path for the government in our world today. Also, he established a department made to collect, and distribute public revenue. Further involvement in colonial