Alexander Hamilton was a brilliant member of the federal government whose political principles were based on the idea that the greatest threat to political stability was anarchy rather than monarchy. He believed that the government should be left in the hands of a concentrated few, and that those chosen would lead the country into prosperity. He did not think the “swinish multitudes” capable of governing themselves.
On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson was in support of making states’ rights more powerful than those of the federal government. Each individual, in his opinion, deserved the right to make the decisions that would govern the country in which he lived. He thought the federal government was too far removed from its people so that their voices would not be able to be heard in the decision making process; thus, their needs would go unfulfilled.
The Hamiltonian point of view that a strong, centralized form of government should be employed is in accordance with my own beliefs. The power of government should be used to unify the people under its jurisdiction, not stand merely as a lame parent to watch its reckless teenage children make decisions that contradict the good of all the people in his household. In Europe, each country has its own set of laws that govern its people; however, for the good of the continent, the united move to the Eurodollar will stabilize the currencies of those countries having trouble with the fluctuations of its money values and also further ease of trade and transportation.
In part, the Civil War was the result of too many decisions made by too many people. Since the country as a whole put off deciding what to do with the ever-present slavery question, each state formed its own policy in dealing with slave trade, runaways, and other such issues. Unrest was the underlying feeling throughout the country and made more prominent other touchy issues, and this lack of unity eventually erupted in warfare. Unity under one central government was re-formed and the system as it is known today is still in place.
To counter overly strong businesses, the power of government was later used to balance the free enterprise system of the United States. In the late part of the 19th century, monopolies caused tiny shops to be run out of business, sending unemployment rates to rise. The wealth of the country was concentrated in the hands of very few people. The Sherman Antitrust Law (1890) was created in order to control companies which restrained normal commerce, like monopolies and trusts, for the good of the prosperity of the country.
Hamilton’s principles, though frowned upon by many that were running from the tyranny of England, were those that kept the nation together. A country that later became a superpower in the eyes of its neighbor relations would never have emerged as such if there had been no brain to establish the functions of its many member body parts.
