Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-04-14
PARTIsANs OF THE PAST.

1t has been the lot of few men 10 eXer-
else more profound influence upon the
formation of a government than was
that of Alexander Hamilton upon our
own. His influence upon the Constitu-
ton was probably greater than that of
any other one man. He early and clear
ly saw the fatal defects of the Articles of
Confederation, and his theory as to those
Articles eventually became the accepted
one. That instrument was defective in
more ways than one but as it was tenta-
tive in the experiment OF a national
government for the independent colo
nies, it may be doubted whether
a stronger centralization of the power of
government, such as was adopted when
the present Constitution was made the
repository of the power of the general gov
ernment, would not likewise have fallen
upon evil times, evil from inexperience
and not from intention.
The solicitude of Hamilton was more
for the Nation as an entirety than for the
rights and reserved powers of the States;
in fact he looked upon the reservation of
any right by the States, and not controlled
by the General Government, as an anon
ally and thing of danger to the Nation.
In this he was the very antipodes
of Jefferson, who maintained that the
safety of the Nation as we'll as of the
States depended upon a strict construc-
ton of the Constitution, and questions
of doubt as to whether power was
lodged with the General Government or
retained by the States or the people, he
resolved in favor of the States as against
the General Government. Jefferson be-
heved in a balance of power between the
two governments, while Hamilton held
that the preponderance of power ought
to and must be with the General Govern
ment. Hamilton had been nurtured so
to speak, in the English school of politics,
and believed more in the efficacy of
strong central government to protect our
national interests and preserve our liber-
ties than in retention of certain sove-
reign rights as to various internal and
domestic affairs by the States. If Ham
ilton was of the English school of poll
tics, Jefferson was of the French school
of the Rights of Man, and being of this
school, he believed in the rights and
the power of the people themselves
He realized that the creature is inferior
to the creator, and that government is
a creation of man, and as such should be
the instrument to attain an end, and not
an end and an object of itself This diff
ference of views has been the difference
of all parties in the United States, as
these two men, Alexander Hamilton and
Thomas Jefferson, were the founders of
the Federalist party and the Republican
party. Both these great men left their
impress upon our institutions, and in a
discrimination between their extreme
views will be found very Just esti-
mate of our government as it is to-day
and as it will most likely remain. !
1t is almost impossible to believe that
there was such bitter personal feeling
between these two men as there was, and
as one reads the scathing and bitter
things that were said by each of the |
other it is impossible not to regret that
such great men should stoop to such
small ways. And this quarrel of these
two men has embittered party strife in
this country until either has cursed the
other until that other has become a
traitor and all else that party hatred can
think of and wish its opponent to be.
But better and juster view is now ac-
cepted, and each party recognizes that
the other is not so bad as it was said to be.