ipl-logo

Compare And Contrast The Policies Of Hamilton And Thomas Jefferson

810 Words4 Pages

discriminatory trade practices. Furthermore, under Jefferson’s wing, James Madison endeavored to push Navigation Laws aimed at opposing British trade in the House of Representatives. Jefferson had also grown wary of Hamilton’s pervading influence: the Senate was automatically friendly to his policies, he controlled the patronage of the Treasury Department, and he boasted a growing number of newspapers: The Pennsylvania Packet, The Charleston Evening Gazette, the Providence Gazette, and the Gazette of the US. To counter Hamilton’s influence, Jefferson spurned the creation of the National Gazette, which broadcasted the views of the Democratic-Republican party to the common people who he hoped to empower. Jefferson proceeded to rally subscriptions …show more content…

With Jefferson against the plan, Hamilton realized that it would not be easy to “make some of the strong opponents admit the Idea [assumption].” However, Jefferson, in fear of losing all ability to rid the nation of debt and in “fear of disunion,” opted to construct a compromise. In his account of the compromise, he writes “I was persuaded that men of sound heads and honest views needed nothing more than an explanation and mutual understanding to enable them to unite in some measures…” This “mutual understanding” was Hamilton and Jefferson’s joint desire to preserve liberty, though through opposing visions of America. A week after the Congressional deadlocks, Hamilton met Jefferson outside of the President’s house where they drafted a compromise together. The compromise consisted of Jefferson and Madison gathering southern votes for the debt-assumption plan and Hamilton gathering northern votes to move the location of the nation’s capital to the Potomac after a ten-year stopover in Philadelphia. After the dinner party, both bills passed through Congress. This marked the Compromise of 1790—the first significant compromise of the federal government. In this case, Jefferson was able to provide a counter balance to Hamilton by setting up a deal where the south, the hub of the Democratic-Republican party, would have the honor of hosting the nation’s capital. In reaching common ground, Jefferson and Hamilton, collaborated to push and balance each other’s visions of

Open Document