I agree completely with you Carrie, you did a great job explaining all of your reasons! Well done.

When you look at the United States, we are very developed, very diverse economy wise, and very powerful due to these facts. According to the Human Development Index, (HDI), which is a statistic board that ranks countries from very high to low depending on their average development, they include factors like economic welfare and population happiness, and overall the United States got in the top five on the list, ranking alongside countries like Australia and Norway. We got that high due to our impeccable economic standards, with one of the highest GDP’s in the world, and being one of the major importers and exporters of the 21st century. I believe the legacy created by Alexander Hamilton was a large part of our success. The ideas Alexander Hamilton represented, like his ideas of a balanced economy, and that educated men and women should take the positions in our government (judge, and legislator, and of course president), as well as the fact that he supported and endorsed American diversity through business and commerce, helped shape the diversity, and the freedom we have today.

Hamilton believed in a balanced economy, with every type of business being represented. The economy would depend on the combination of agriculture, trade, finance, and industrial production. This type of economy would be stable, and come with more benefits than the ideas of Mr. Jefferson, who wanted a total agricultural economy. If one of the branches of our economy was shut down, (say a bad growing season), and we couldn't bring in as much agriculture revenue, our economy would still remain intact due to the trade, finance, and manufacturing that the economy still depends on.He believed we couldn't have economy without inventive power of the human mind, which influenced the increased development of infrastructure in that time period. If what he was saying was true, then Jefferson's theory wouldn't have let us take advantage of that power as freely as we could have with Hamilton's ideas. With Hamilton's ideas we had room for progress, and the increased development of infrastructure. He believed progress included the development of urban areas that included all sorts of businesses, such as trade, agriculture, and manufacturing. All of this was necessary for the encouraged development of the economy, without progress in human innovation, there wouldn't be development in the economy. He summed this up as “productive powers of labor.” Without his ideas, and implementations in our economy, we might still be a solely agrarian society, without improvements or progress. So, Hamilton left a lasting impact on our economy by implementing his ideas of a well balanced economy.

Unless your government is respectable, foreigners will invade your rights; and to maintain tranquility you must be respectable; even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.

Elliot's Debates, volume 1, p. 463. (1788-07-29)

The quote above was said by Hamilton at a debate over government in 1788. He was basically saying that if we did not have educated men and women running the country we would not be easily respected from the outside or the inside. It is easier to run and manage a country if the officials themselves actually understand what is going on. Hamilton understood this and was educated enough to comprehend the responsibilities that officials undergo. Being the first Secretary of Treasury, he was in a position where he understood how much intelligence and foresight that was needed in order to successfully manage a prosperous country such as the United States. Hamilton was able to see ahead and think of how much progress would happen, and that shaped his views for what we should do then as well. He knew we would need educated officials, he knew we would grow enough as a nation that we would still be at the point where we needed educated officials to help aid the United States and to help keep the citizens safe. With such educated men there would be opposing opinions, yes, that much was evident between Jefferson and Hamilton, but that was something inescapable. If we had ended up using Jefferson’s theories of total equality, letting a simple uneducated man become Chief Justice, or even President, there would be more arguments than there would have been with the educated men and women. Simply because you learn about what is going on in the country and how exactly to run such a large and powerful nation, through your education. Officials need education in order to have a confident idea on what needs to happen, in the meantime, the common man has a chance to put his/her ideas to the test by writing letters to their official or by voting. It is as easy as that, they still get a say, but if they didn't have the complete grasp of the situation the educated official is able to tweak it to where it works with all the law documents and make the common mans proposition a standing law proposition. That is what Hamilton wanted to achieve, and it works well enough to where every man is able to have a say, and we are still respected by outside viewers. Hamilton left a huge legacy in this form throughout our three branches of government.

Hamilton knew what his ideals for the American business standard were. They included manufacturing, and thought about the industrial age. However, they didn't just include one type of business, it included all types of people to help them all thrive in the next years of America. It included farmers, merchants, tradesmen, sailors, cobblers, politicians, and the men who worked in manufacturing. He knew that everyone was important in the success of America, and the conjoined unity of his economic plans helped support that thought, as well as make us look stronger in the face of other countries. We all worked together to create one of the biggest superpowers of this time, and I believe that is largely because of Alexander Hamilton. So, he may not have been as full on democratic equality as Thomas Jefferson, but he was for the economic freedom and diversity for everyone, and I believe that made a more lasting impact on America today.

When you first think of America, you may immediately think of Thomas Jefferson and the declaration of independence, but if you look more closely at the development of our nation, I am sure you will see that Alexander Hamilton is actually the backbone of how we run things today. And to use a quote from the debate we watched; ‘We live in a Hamiltonian Society.’

Citations:

http://larouchepac.com/node/21139

http://listverse.com/2012/02/13/top-10-highly-developed-countries/

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton

http://together.edublogs.org/2010/09/28/ jefferson-vs-hamilton-whose-vision-endures/