Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton Jefferson and Hamilton’s ideas and ideals differ about economics. The Jefferson and Hamilton debate changed a nation in the early stages of development. Hamilton’s economic plan for the nation included establishing a national bank like that in England to maintain public credit. All of Hamilton’s arguments would strengthen the federal government’s power at the expense of the states. Jefferson and his political party opposed these reforms. Jefferson feared that the bank of the United States represented too much English influence and Jefferson argued that the constitution did not give congress the power to establish a bank. Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic- Republican Party emerged as complete opposites of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Party. Contrasting ideas about paying the debt, English influence and the supporting sides show their polar opposition. The first contrasting ideal between Jefferson and Hamilton was paying off the American national debt that was left after the Revolutionary War. Jefferson’s belief about paying off the debt was a belief that the nation’s future must not lay with the Federalist bankers and merchants but with plain Democratic- Republican farm folk to be labors to the nation. Thomas Jefferson was a Southern planter who owned slaves and had strong allies with small farmers. Jefferson knew what a labor was and how it affected the economy both financially and safely. This difference was important because Jefferson wanted America to labor by growing crops and making goods so America could gain money by exporting it to other countries for money or gold. This idea would pay off the national debt slowly instead of paying it off all at once and run a nation based on its credit. On the other hand, Hamilton’s belief about paying the debt was to pay it off by establishing a National Bank with a firm credit with other nations so America could receive goods from them. Hamilton’s plan would help