Gorman Period 6

Many people have had lasting impacts on America, but none more so than Thomas Jefferson. I may not entirely agree with all of his views, but his positive attributes far outweigh the negatives. He was an amazing man who worked hard for his country using his incredible gift in writing to inspire many, regardless of race or color. Without Thomas Jefferson's vision for America, we would not be the country we are today.

One of the only misgivings people may have about Thomas Jefferson is his economic plan for America. He preferred just farming over a variety of trades to support the economy, over Hamilton's plan to include manufacturing, finance, and trade along with agriculture. For the dispute over the bank, I just compromised, because I'm not really for or against setting up a bank. Banks are helpful in the sense of storing money, but banks also provide a means to gain debt. On the subject of debt, I am most definitely for paying off the national debt, because then our economy wouldn't take regular nosedives (as shown by the Dow and NASDAQ stock markets). On the other hand, eliminating all internal taxes could potentially cause problems with stores not gaining a large enough profit margin. I just cannot see myself as a Hamilton supporter on this subject because credit builds up over time, and our country is in bad enough debt already (again, as shown by the Dow and NASDAQ, which are at all time lows).

Thomas Jefferson may have been born with everything guaranteed to be provided, but he did not forget the common people of America, unlike Alexander Hamilton. Wealth is no guarantee of virtue, and neither is being educated. Even the smartest people in the world make mistakes, so the common people should have their say too. The worst they can do is make the same mistake that the smartest people make. We have lowered the voting qualifications, which means we are staying towards the vision Thomas Jefferson had, and not the future Alexander Hamilton had in mind.

Now on the most disputed topic of that time period, the type of government that should be implemented. To me, its clear that Jefferson's vision had a more lasting impression than Hamilton's. Both visions ended up in a compromise on the subject of a strong central government vs. a weak one, because the powers between the Federal government and the state government tend to balance each other out, so neither vision could really take a firm hold there. The rest of the government we have today is very largely influenced by Jefferson's vision. Thomas Jefferson favored a democratic government, which is the system we are currently under. I'd say that qualifies as an enduring vision. Alexander Hamilton wanted the American government to be based off of the British system, in other words, a monarchy. Thomas Jefferson does not impress me in one section because he wanted to reduce the number of Federal employees, and to be honest, while some sections (congressmen) could use a cut in the number of employees, other sections (national parks) could use more employees. Since I believe that rules are made to be followed, I favor a strict interpretation over a loose one. Unfortunately, there is no data on how the Constitution is interpreted, so I will have to leave this one at opinion.

The final imprint, and perhaps the most lasting imprint, in my opinion, was Thomas Jefferson's views on liberty. He believed that individual liberties must be protected by law. If you think for one second that the liberties listed in the Bill of Rights were not there we would still have our rights, you need to look at the real world a little more, because liberties that are not protected are not provided in so many counties around the world. True, he owned slaves, but his words on the subject of liberty have been used as rallying points in the past and now for abolitionists and protestors alike.

There is no doubt in my mind that Thomas Jefferson left the more enduring vision on America. From his views on liberty to his implementation of our democratic government that still governs us today to the simple fact that he wrote the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson is one of our greatest founding fathers, and regardless of who left a more lasting impression on America, will always be remembered in our history, and hopefully the same to Alexander Hamilton.

Side note to the Hamilton supporters in 6th period: I will not lose until I quit.