When people think of America today, they think of freedom, opportunities, and innovations. What they forget is with freedom comes great responsibility. I think Alexander Hamilton’s vision of America corresponds with what America is now. Hamilton envisioned a country with a strong economy, modernistic and a strong army, which America is currently known for. Due to his ideas and vision, America has a strong central government and is a world superpower.

Hamilton was George Washington’s former military aid. He designed the Treasury Department and the disbursing of public revenue, and promoted the economic development of the country. He wanted a balanced economy based on agriculture, trade, finance, and manufacturing which is what America is now. America is diverse, vicissitudinous and is always innovating cutting edge technology. These are traits that were highly favored by Hamilton.

On the other hand, if we lived in Thomas Jefferson’s world, we would live in a country with agriculture as its backbone, and the great country we currently live in would be a socialistic country. Socialism involves an economic system in which the means of distribution and exchange are owned by the community collectively, usually through the state. However, currently we are living under capitalism- Hamilton’s vision of modern economy.

Due to Hamilton’s vision we live in a country where all men are equal. He lived by example - he did not just talk about believing in equality, he was an abolitionist who helped end slavery in New York, and New Jersey. Hamilton was not a hypocrite who talked about all men being equal, but then owning a bunch of slaves. Hamilton’s vision of a modern economy helped reduce the need for more slaves, who mainly worked on the plantations because there were not machines to help in agriculture especially on the farms. Hamilton’s vision led to the Industrial Revolution and the manufacturing of goods, which in turn helped with innovations. These innovations created easier ways to plant and harvest crops making slaves unnecessary.

Unfortunately, Hamilton’s contributions were mostly unnoticed, with most of the credit going to Thomas Jefferson. They were both great men with great ideas. Jefferson and Hamilton were like the sun and moon, sea and land. It was not their purpose to become each other, it was to recognize each other, to learn to see the other, and honor the individual accomplishments. They were each other’s opposites and compliments.