Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferon by Rembrandt Peale, 1800 (White House Historical Association).
Secretary of State
(Democratic-Republican) |
No man is more ardently intent to see the public debt soon and sacredly paid off than I am. This exactly makes the difference between Colonel Hamilton's views and mine, that I wish the debt paid tomorrow; he wishes it never to be paid[19] |
While Jefferson opposed Hamilton’s financial system, he soon realized that a compromise needed to be forged to preserve American unity and foreign credit.
I see the necessity of yielding for this time to the cries of the creditors in certain parts of the union, for the sake of union, and to save us from the greatest of all calamities, the total extinction of our credit in Europe.
- Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, June 20, 1790
Jefferson's home in Monticello, Virginia, Carol M. Highsmith, 1980 (Library of Congress).
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1806 (National Portrait Gallery).
Secretary of the Treasury
(Federalist) |
“If politics is preeminently the art of the compromise, then Hamilton was in some ways poorly suited for his job. He wanted to be a statesman who led courageously, not a politician who made compromises.”[20] "A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing"[21] |
Federalist Number 1, written by Hamilton on October 30, 1787 for the New-York Packet (Newsbank).
|
Main Priority: pass assumption
Secondary Priority: keep capital in N.Y.C. Hamilton proposed to give the permanent residence to Pennsylvania at Germantown or the Falls of the Delaware, on condition of their voting for the assumption.[22] |
James Madison
James Madison by John Vanderlyn, 1816 (White House Historical Association).
Virginia Representative
(Democratic-Republican) 
Federalist Number 10, written by Madison on November 23, 1787 for the New-York Packet (Newsbank).
|
Despite having worked closely with Hamilton in defending the Constitution, Madison eventually abandoned his nationalist platform in favor of one aligned with southern interests. He thwarted the passage of assumption on numerous occasions and was a proponent of the Potomac location.
if the public debt is a public evil, an assumption of the state debts will enormously increase, and, perhaps, perpetuate it. if the seat of government should be fixed on the Susquehanna, every part south of that river ... will conceive that the great principles of equal justice, have been disregarded ... I am sure that it is most expedient that we should give the preference to Potowmac.[23] |
