Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis

Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis

In Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis, Joseph describes to us a dinner where Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton sat down to talk about the United States' legislative body. In Jefferson's mind, this meeting was to prevent the paralysis of the legislative body. A new national capital needed to be founded and the federal government was assuming the debt of each state at the time. The meeting focused on the prevention of assumption on debt for each one of the fifty states and to determine the new nation's capital. The whole meeting itself really had an impact on the US as a whole.

Each one of the men brought their own ideas to the table that night. Beginning with James Madison, he was being regarded as the most influential political leader after Washington and Franklin died. He helped mobilize for the Constitutional Convention, and his arguments for a new fortified national government "became the centerpiece around which all the compromises and revisions of the eventual document congealed, giving him honorary title of 'Father of the Constitution'."(p.52) Him and Hamilton joined forces and wrote The Federalist Papers. Hamilton's idea proposed in his Report on the Public Credit made Madison skeptic of Hamilton's goal. The proposal was for the funding of the domestic debt, that had reached somewhere over 77.1 million dollars. The problem with the proposal was Hamilton wanted a purchasing frenzy. Some could agree on this proposal as good, but it was basically taking advantage of the bankers and investors. If companies and banks were to fail after the frenzy, the US debt would basically sky rocket and the government would just be digging itself a deeper hole. Madison delivered a speech in front of the House of Representatives and Hamilton's proposal ended up being a favorite with a 36 to 13 vote. It was Madison's first major legislative defeat after a long string of triumphs. This really impacted the US at the time because this made the federal government assume sovereign authority over the economies of every state. They now would have control over the economies which was I believe it was a bad thing because spending would be monitored and the frenzy was mostly the number 1 way of getting out of debt according to Hamilton. I also believe that there would be two different outcomes of the frenzy. One outcome would be that the frenzy would actually help the economy recover and grow, or that the buying frenzy would go completely wrong and the whole economy would crumble. Hamilton was willing to risk the destruction of the US economy.

Hamilton was the 2nd man at the dinner with plans for America. Hamilton wrote the Report describing the new government under the constitution. In it, Hamilton told of a new authoritative presence that had appeared and had started to take charge. This certain authority went past the matters of personality. Problem was that Hamilton was this certain personality. He was the one who got this new authority put into place so he was to blame for the federal government having unequivocal sovereignty. He made the assumption that "the enormous but latent potential of the American economy required more than mere release to achieve its full potential."(p.63) Madison and Jefferson had the idea of letting the economic laws recover and grow. Hamilton's mindset was nowhere near where Jefferson's and Madison's were. Problem with this was the US had three of the most powerful political leaders disagreeing on how to make the country's economy recover. Hamilton like the idea of having a Public debt saying it was "a national blessing."(p.64) He liked the resources being in the hands of a small group of people who would invest and not just spend them. Madison said that "a Public Debt is a Public Curse."(p.64) I agree 100% with the way Madison thought. The resources need to be spread throughout the people and not just kept hold by a group of people in the government. Hamilton saw the bankers, merchants, and business owners as the central figures in American society. The whole problem with that is that those people are the ones that are the richest and can do the spending and investing. I believe that Hamilton basically left the economy