Comparison Of Thomas Jefferson And Alexander Hamilton

After securing its independence from Britain, America was immediately faced with a crisis of how the budding country should be governed. The Articles of Confederation was the first effort to establish a democratic government in the US; however, this feeble attempt at a creating a stable government failed due to a lack of control over the states. Rather than a functioning authority in the nation, the Articles created a “firm league of friendship” between the states. To remedy this pathetic excuse for a ruling body, a Constitution was drafted, and rival sides emerged quickly on the main issues the new document was supposed to address. Two men that embodied this conflict were Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, both passionate patriots who strongly believed that their proposed forms of government were in the best interests of the country, but they disagreed fundamentally on what that form of government should be.

Thomas Jefferson asserted that he has “such reliance on the good sense of the body of the people,” and “great confidence in the common sense of mankind in general.” Jefferson is a genuine man of the people, and gives an unusually large amount of trust to the common man. Alexander Hamilton also displayed his strong opinions when he stated: “Take mankind in general, they are vicious-their passions may be operated upon.” Such scathing words are easily taken as offensive, but Hamilton still vehemently believed in them. Obviously, both men had exceptionally tenacious stances on how the United States should be governed, which caused much strife between the two. Even with a shared love for their country, Jefferson and Hamilton still couldn’t agree on just about