Debate: Who had the more enduring vision of the United States? Hamilton or Jefferson?
Side: Alexander Hamilton

America is a nation forged through fire and has always been a beacon of hope for a new future, and who else but Alexander Hamilton to portray this journey. Alexander Hamilton, who climbed up all the way from the deepest depths of poverty, who was abandoned by his father and condemned to a life of arduous, unpromising struggle, who worked his way to the top through the most discouraging of situations, who used his scholarship and education to construct some of the most influential works of literature our nation has seen, who became a commerce genius, who did all this of his own determination. Alexander Hamilton embodies the American spirit of astute, unfaltering determination to succeed. Alexander Hamilton pursued a Constitution that left freedom for the peoples’ decisions, the establishing of a stable economy by strategic debt tactics and the founding of a central bank, and a structured government to support its people, which we still see its legacy today.After the failed attempt of a government called the Articles of Confederation, a new, stronger government needed to be formed, and thus the Constitution was started. The Constitution would be the foundation for the new government for centuries to come. But there was still dispute over how powerful the new government should be. Alexander Hamilton wanted the Constitution to give Americans space to breathe on their own decisions, but still provide structure. In fact, that’s all he wanted the Constitution to be; a basic structure. The Constitution was meant to define the ideas of the new government and its relationship with the people. The Constitution would list what the government thought the people should be able to do and what it in itself should not be allowed to decide. I strongly agree with Alexander’s philosophy of a Constitution to guide the country with a government to lead its people. This brings me to my next topic, the establishment of a democratic government. Alexander Hamilton supported a strong central government and believed that America’s government should be modeled off of the British system. This, of course, rivaled Thomas Jefferson’s preferences of a weak federal government and powerful state government. However there were crippling problems with Jefferson’s idea, one of them being, again, the Articles of Confederation, which had an extremely weak federal government that was condemned to fall apart. The second issue was the lack of unity. As a nation, America needed to be a team, lead by one government, not by their states’ own. Each state taking care of itself would defeat the purpose of being a country, and larger issues were bound to arise from these flaws. America needed structure in its government and unity, which was brought by a strong central government. Maintaining the economy is a major function of the government, and Alexander Hamilton understood this. Just as the nation needed unity in its government, it needed unity in its economy, too, so the National Bank was founded by Hamilton. The central banking system would help centralize the responsibility of America’s government and maintain and stabilize the economy in general. To win the people's support, Hamilton even suggested the government take on the war debts, showing the importance of improving the economy. Alexander, being a financial genius and Secretary of the Treasury, had an unprecedented strategy to boost and provide security to the economy . While Jefferson wanted to expel internal taxes and debt, Hamilton wanted to keep internal taxes and debt to establish credit. Hamilton also wanted a balanced economy that didn’t put too much pressure on one industry, unlike Jefferson who favored a reliance on agriculture. Alexander’s diverse industry dependence was a brilliant method of establishing a sound government and investing in them by offering financial support. In conclusion, Alexander Hamilton lives on in the shards of his arduous strife and astounding accomplishments sprinkled throughout American history and ideals. We can still see the influence of Alexander Hamilton in most of the institutions we use today, such as our Constitution, government, and economic affairs, not to mention the very essence of American spirit: the passionate struggle to defeat your obstacles and reach beyond your goals.