Question

Compare the economic policies of the American System with those of Alexander Hamilton. What was similar? What was different? How do you think Hamilton would have rated presidents like John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson?

Answer 1

During the early 1790s, America’s first two parties were formed, the Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic-Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson are known for being great thinkers and during the time they served president Washington as cabinets, where Hamilton served as secretary of treasury and Jefferson as secretary of state, they shared their different beliefs how they thought the country should be ruled with later on created the two parties. During this time, many people was against the nation falling into political factions but because of Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s different views on the constitution and views this set the path for the two party system we see today. Since it was almost 200 years ago the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans were founded, many of their ideals with today’s Democrats and Republicans remain relatively similar.
Body paragraph 1
The Federalists party was formed 1791 by Alexander Hamilton, mainly to support his fiscal policies as Secretary of Treasury under the presidency of George Washington. Members of his party were mainly from the upper class of the society living in the north east or in coastal regions, and were supporting a fiscally sound and nationalistic government and promoting the system of checks and balances laid out from the constitution for the three branches of government. Federalists believed in a loose interpretation of the constitution and in a strong, centralized, federal government. They believed that the ”common man” were incapable of self-governing and therefor wanted to increase the voting qualifications. The Democratic-Republican Party was founded in 1791 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as a party opposed to the policies of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and his Federalist Party. Members of the party generally believed that a strong federal government would weaken the rights of the states and the people and insisted on a strict construction of the Constitution.
The Democratic-Republican Party and Federalist Party differed most in their views on foreign policy and the economy. The Federalists believed that American foreign policy should favor British interests and strongly supported the Jay Treaty with Britain, while the Democratic-Republicans wanted to strengthen ties with the French, who they saw as more democratic after its recent revolution. Jefferson said for example: ”We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed”, which basically means that you need to crush some skulls in order to get freedom. On economic matters, the Democratic-Republicans believed in protecting the interests of the working classes through the promotion of an agrarian economy and saw the establishment of a national Bank of the United States (which Hamilton strongly favored) as a means of usurping power that belonged to individual states. The Federalists saw industry and manufacturing as the best means of domestic growth and economic self-sufficiency and favored the existence of protective tariffs both as a means of protecting domestic production and as a source of revenue.
Body paragraph 2
Today, the two party system consists of the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republican party is led by Donald Trump right now and won the current election over Hillary Clinton. The Republicans believe in a strict interpretation of the constitution. They say this on their website: ”Defend the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States. Nobody is above the law”.
By looking at their economical views, they believe in favoring the upper class of the society. They want to decrease the taxation for the rich. They want to pay off the national debt by reducing a lot of ”unnecessary” resources by reducing the military budget by cut off military bases around the world. They also want to decrease the company taxation to prevent companies from leaving the U.S. and to make companies come back to the U.S. which will decrease the unemployment rate and increase the revenue. They believe that ”Peace through strength” will be the center of their foreign policies. They say that they want to fight ISIS and that it will create good foreign relations.
The Democrats believe in a rather loose interpretation of the constitution. They do not believe that it is the only thing that should lead to a certain decision. Different from the Republicans, the Democrats favor the lower and middle class. They want to increase the taxation for the rich and make them pay a fare share. As the Republicans, they want to prevent companies from leaving the U.S. and make companies come back since it helps the economy really much.
Body paragraph 3
By looking at the Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, todays Democrats and todays Republicans, we can see that they have a lot in common. First of all, by looking at the interpretation of the constitution, we can see that both the Democratic-Republicans and todays Republican’s believed and believe in a strong interpretation of it.
The Republicans favor the upper class of the society and are doing that by reducing taxes from them. As well as the Republicans, the Federalists are in favor of the upper class. They believe that the upper class is they keystone for the country. The Republicans believe that fighting ISIS will lead to a peaceful society, they are basically saying that you need to fight in order get peace. This is exactly what Jefferson were saying about the French revolution. One other similarity between the different parties is between the federalists and both of the republicans and democrats. All three believe that domestic production was positive.
The democrats on the other hand believe in a rather loose interpretation of the constitution which the federalists also believed in.
Body paragraph 4
Even though there are a lot in common with the different parties, there are a lot that is different between them. The biggest difference comparing todays politics with the politics 200 years ago, is that the politics today is way more advanced. There are many more factors that are included in todays politics and more issues that need to be taken care of.
Conclusion
To conclude, we can see that many of the ideals the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans shared almost 200 years ago, are quite similar to those that today’s Democrats and Republicans share. As stated before Democratic-Republicans and Republicans share a very similar view on the interpretation of the constitution since they believed in a rather strict interpretation of it. Even though they share a lot of similarities, there are many, many differences. The world is very different today than 200 years ago, we experience many different problems which results in different opinions and actions. 200 years ago, global warming wasn’t a problem for example which means that the parties at that time didn’t have that in their beliefs. One other conclusion that can be drawn is that either the federalists and the democratic-republicans can’t be associated with only the democrats or the republicans. They share opinions similar to both of them.