Alexander Hamilton's Financial Plan

After being appointed as the Treasury Secretary by President George Washington in 1789, Alexander Hamilton proposed a financial plan which he stated that would help gain the confidence of potential investors, those in the United States and foreigners. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison disagreed with Hamilton’s financial plan, causing there to be a major disagreement on the path the United States should take to become a stronger country economically. As this argument continued, many started to refer Hamilton and his allies as the Federalist. In this paper, I plan on discussing Hamilton’s reason for the financial plan and what were the contents in it, those who disagreed and agreed with it, and how it formed a two party political system. Even before being appointed as Treasury Secretary, Hamilton was unhappy with the weak central government, and supported a strong central government instead. He did not feel that the common person would make the correct decisions for the United States, and wanted there to be a more loose representation of the Constitution. The first recognized proposal in Hamilton’s financial plan was to assume state debt. Due to the Revolutionary war, governments of all levels had some type of debt. Hamilton wanted the government to take responsibility for all existing public debt, …show more content…
One of those people being Thomas Jefferson, who was appointed as the Secretary of State by Washington in 1789. Jefferson’s ideas of how the United States should be ran was complete opposite to Hamilton’s ideas. Jefferson believed in a more weak central government, but strong state governments. He believed in the choices the common person would make, and a more stronger representation of the Constitution. The types of people that agreed with Jefferson were mostly farmers, and those from the South. While bankers, manufactures, wealthy people, and those in New England supported