What Was Alexander Hamilton’s Economic Plan?
Alexander Hamilton’s economic plan involved setting up a national bank, taxing individuals and the federal government assuming the entire national debt, including the debt of each individual state. He also wanted the country to turn more toward manufacturing and industry than farming, which was the current way of life during that time. The plan was not without controversy, and the national bank was, at one point, deemed unconstitutional.
The national bank that Alexander Hamilton proposed was to be modeled after the Bank of England. This bank would be in charge of overseeing the nation’s tax revenue, hold government money and make loans to the government as well as to those who wanted to borrow money from the United States. Many felt that his plan would encourage corruption. James Madison deemed the plan for a national bank unconstitutional because there were no provisions granting Congress the authority to create a banking institution. Hamilton drafted the “implied powers” doctrine that essentially took care of the unconstitutional charge. It was a document that granted Congress the power to create what they needed to so that they could carry out their constitutional duties.
Thomas Jefferson fought Alexander Hamilton over the industrial portion of the plan because he felt that the nation’s people should be more dependent on themselves.
