The Dinner Chapter 1 Summary

When Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, after an intense realignment of the majority of office holders from Federalist to Anti-Federalist in the “Revolution of 1800”, there were many policies headed by former Treasurer Alexander Hamilton that were still in place. Instead of doing what would have been expected of him by his peers, and taking steps

3. What was Hamilton’s plan for debt reconciliation? Hamilton suggested funding the debt by selling government bonds, and further proposed that state debts be assumed by the national government. Why was Madison opposed to it? Madison believed that Hamilton's plan "was betraying the ideas of the American Revolution."

Conflicting views and contrasting ideologies have always existed throughout the history of United States politics. Alexander Hamilton, who led Federalist Party, believed that a powerful central government was necessary while Thomas Jefferson, who led the Jeffersonian Republican Party, favored an agrarian nation with most of the power left to the states. Although Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were similar in that they both harbored good intentions and tried to keep the best interests in mind for the future of the United States, their policies were drastically different. Without doubt, both of their contrasting ideas served a vital role in forming the government.

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.

Jefferson was joined by James Madison leading the Democrat-Republicans, who believed power was in the hands of the states.

First of all, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had different views on the nature of human beings. Alexander Hamilton believed that people are born selfish, untrustworthy, and basically bad. He only trusted the rich, educated, and elite. According to the United States History textbook, Hamilton stated, “The people… seldom judge or determine [decide] right.” (Deverell and White, p. 202) In other words, Hamilton believed that only the rich and elite could make the right choices and the average person could not be trusted with his decisions. The article, Politicians: Alexander Hamilton, mentions that during the Election of 1800, Hamilton nominated Thomas Jefferson as President over Aaron Burr as Jefferson was the “lesser of two evils”. In a newspaper, Hamilton also said that Aaron Burr was “the most unfit and dangerous man of the community”. (Biography.com Editors and A+E Networks, NewsELA) On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson believed that people were naturally good and trustworthy. He trusted the poor and the common man rather than the rich, as he believed that the common man was more sensible. He supported and helped the farmers by keeping tariffs low so that they could trade competitively and be profitable. A tariff is a tax to be paid for a particular class of imports and exports. Thomas Jefferson’s major accomplishment had to do with the Louisiana Purchase. Because of the possible restriction to the New Orleans sea port, Jefferson sent his ambassadors to France to buy the port in order for the farmers to trade their goods. He offered $3 million but instead received the whole Louisiana Territory, which was a part of French Canada, for only $15 million. Not only did Jefferson help the farmers, but he doubled the size of the nation.

In the history of America, Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, and Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, were two of the greatest leaders of our country. Although they both lead the country, that's where the similarities end as they had opposing views on everything. Jefferson was a republican while Hamilton was a federalist. Jefferson had been opposed to all of Hamilton's ideas, such as his financial plan, his interpretation of the powers of the government, his foreign policy, and his vision for the future of America. Jefferson was against Hamilton's views because his financial plan would ultimately destroy democracy in America, his interpretation of the powers of

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.

Jefferson and Madison's Presidencies were alike and different in many ways. Such as, during Jefferson's Presidency he maintained peace, reduced taxes, and expanded the U.S.. Also, Jefferson wanted to lessen the national government's power, but he was a hypocrite, which was shown by his actions in his presidency. Jefferson wanted to make the U.S. whole for its citizens. At the same time, Madison was Jefferson's right hand man during his presidency, but Madison's Presidency is primarily only remembered for the War of 1812. In Madison's presidency he worried over how other countries perceived the U.S.. As Madison learned, a President is only remembered for what transpires during their presidency. Both Jefferson and Madison's Presidencies had opposition

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 framers of the constitution envisioned a one-party state in which partisan distinctions would be muted by patriotism and public virtue.” (Faragher, et. al, page 211) However, even in our early days of nationhood, different factions of beliefs would ensue. As Founding Fathers of our nation, both Hamilton and Madison played large roles in the evolution of political parties and many of the foundations of these parties still remain today.

This essay is a review of the Decisions in Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787. The body of this work will highlight a few of the differences found in Collier and Collier’s Decision in Philadelphia (2007) and Middlekauff’s The Glorious Cause (2005) and paint a picture for the reason for the convention, the need for a change from the Articles of Confederation, as well as some of the key takeaways from the Constitution that impact us still today. The Decision in Philadelphia highlights well the overarching theme of compromise. Compromise was and still is the cornerstone to the government in the United States of America. This essay will showcase this theme over and over as it was critical to allow for the collective good to succeed. Webster’s dictionary defines compromise as the settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions. Compromise is further defined as the blending qualities of different things, those different things were the ideals, principles, and values of the Constitution’s framers.

The political standings of Hamilton and Jefferson were the foundation and beginning of their lifelong arguments and disagreements. Hamilton was the leader

In Jefferson’s inauguration, he was seeking to reach out to his political rivals, the common people and government officials, in attempt to mend the infringement between Federalists and Republicans. For many years, the federalists and republicans have been fighting for power in the central government and how the power must be divided. As a republican, Jefferson strongly believed in following the constitution. The main intention of the speech was to end disagreements between both parties, as well as to inform his people about the government. He also believed that everyone should unite

One domestic affair that played a huge role in the development in politics was Alexander Hamilton’s Financial Plan. Hamilton’s Financial Plan was created as an attempt to fix America’s debt issues as well as other things such as creating the National Bank. Thomas Jefferson, as well as many other Democratic Republicans believed Hamilton’s plan to be unconstitutional. Even though many Democratic-Republicans opposed Hamilton’s plan, Hamilton argued that his plan was a national blessing. After many debates Hamilton’s plan was officially passed, but there was still conflict concerning the National Bank. Jefferson felt that the National Bank was unconstitutional, while Hamilton did not see a problem with it. Another domestic affair was different views on the Constitution. Jefferson believed in a strict interpretation of the Constitution while Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation of the Constitution. Due to the different beliefs of Hamilton and Jefferson, two party systems were formed, leaving a lasting impact on