Jefferson ran for President again in 1800, and this time Hamilton, more consumed with defeating John Adams, whom he both hated and could not exploit, said little against his political enemy. (On this point, he was not wholly wrong: Hamilton said in private that he would not hesitate to “subdue a refractory and powerful state.”) Proclaiming Hamilton “our Buonaparte,” Jefferson predicted the federal troops would be used against domestic dissidents. Jefferson called the legislation “detestable” and “worthy of the 8th or 9th century” and deemed the Federalist government a “reign of witches.” That reign grew scarier still when Congress ordered the creation of a large standing army, which Hamilton, with Washington’s help, commanded. Spurred by America’s “cold war” with France, Congress enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts, repressive measures designed by the Federalists, including Hamilton. Two years later, events transpired that troubled him more than anything had since Hamilton’s economic policies. Jefferson lost, to John Adams, and had to settle for the vice presidency. Throughout the campaign, Jefferson endured furious assaults by the Federalists, who portrayed him as a hypocrite-an elitist who insincerely spouted notions of equality. Nor did Jefferson comment when Hamilton’s extramarital affair with Maria Reynolds became public in 1797.Īs Hamilton predicted, his rival did run for president, in 1796. Still, during Jefferson’s three years away, Hamilton said little in public about his rival, even remaining silent when rumors circulated of Jefferson’s alleged sexual relationship with one of his female slaves. Convinced that the “philosopher of Monticello” remained obsessed with becoming president, Hamilton never expected the retirement to last. Jefferson left the cabinet and retired from public life in 1794. Washington, though, was unmoved he believed in his former aide and the economic path he had set, one that would leave the country “prosperous & happy.” Already, a “corrupt squadron” of Hamiltonians within Congress was engaged in financial speculation, disdaining constitutional limits on government’s power. Hamilton, Jefferson warned, secretly schemed to restore monarchy in America. And he denounced Hamilton to Washington, reporting that his rival had praised Britain’s government while calling the Constitution a “shilly shally thing” destined to be replaced by something better. Jefferson also hired Philip Freneau, a gifted writer with a penchant for satire, to run an opposition newspaper, the National Gazette. He responded by organizing the Republican Party. Jefferson was sure that before long, Hamiltonianism would produce in America the same evil cause-and-effects he had witnessed in Europe: monarchy and rigid social stratification leading to massive poverty and widespread urban squalor. All of it would menace republicanism and the agrarian way of life. And he detected an intent to secure the sway of the “financial interest” over Congress and foster the growth of a new moneyed class. He saw as dangerous Hamilton’s push to strengthen the central government and presidency. The economic program instituted by the Treasury secretary triggered Jefferson’s suspicions, but it wasn’t until he learned what Hamilton had preached at the Constitutional Convention that he put together the whole puzzle. A clash between the two Founding Fathers was inevitable. Jefferson once equated cities with “great sores,” but in Hamilton’s eyes they were focal points of societal health, providing a foundation for wealth creation, consumerism, the arts, innovation and enlightenment. Further, it would produce a philanthropic, knowledgeable and enterprising people. Naturally, he believed that a flourishing merchant economy would sow opportunities for all. Hamilton, of course, had risen meteorically in the world of urban commerce.
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