In order to build the national credit of the United States, Hamilton, the first secretary of the Treasury, proposed in his financial plan that the state should pay the debts of the states uniformly, but such an idea was opposed by the states, especially Madison, a close comrade of Hamilton at the Constituent Assembly, who gave him the first blow, because Madison believed that Hamilton's plan was suspected of infringing on the power of the states.
In fact, Madison was not alone in this way at the time, the famous Philadelphia doctor and one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin. Rush once said angrily: "I feel extremely angry now,...... These people (i.e., the speculators) are about to reap all the benefits of the war of independence, while the true revolutionaries have lost everything. He wrote to Madison asking him to intervene to prevent this betrayal of the "spirit of 1776."
The "Father of Medicine" in the United States - Benjamin. Rush
(Rush was an amazing man, the most famous doctor of the time, but he had no other treatment than bloodletting and giving vomiting drugs, so he treated patients with a particularly high mortality rate, and finally became the "father of psychiatry" in the United States because of the study of psychiatry, and created the American medical system after the founding of the United States; and his students later as washington's private doctors in a day to bleed Washington 2500 ml eventually led to Washington's death; Rush also as the Declaration of Independence The signatories, however, took the lead in opposing Washington's appointment as commander of the Continental Army, and had plotted to replace Washington with General Gates; firmly opposed slavery but believed that the black skin of black slaves was a lesion that could be made white by treatment. ）
But Jefferson only returned to New York in March 1790, and madison, although he changed his financial plan from yes to no, only hoped to make certain changes to the plan, such as the aforementioned change from unconditional repayment of bonds to proportional repayment of creditors.
James. Madison
After Jefferson returned to New York as secretary of state, because the problems that caused the communication barrier between Jefferson and Madison no longer existed, Madison finally understood Jackie's true thoughts, so he did not hesitate to side with Jefferson and began to oppose and criticize Hamilton's financial plan.
It may be difficult for us to understand Madison's ideas, and he has worked hard to establish a federal republic, from the constitution of the Constituent Assembly, to the preparation of the Federalist Papers to promote the adoption of the constitution by the states, to the formulation of constitutional amendments, and so on. But when Hamilton formulated the founding strategy according to their ideals, he changed his view only because of Jefferson's different opinions, and turned to the system he had worked so hard to establish.
This may be the power of faith, Madison has always regarded Jefferson as his idol, and even regarded him as a source of his own strength, willing to change his attitude at any time according to Jefferson's thoughts.
Thomas. Jefferson
This was Madison's first shift in this matter, and there would be one more in the near future. But Madison's change surprised and bewildered Hamilton, who could not understand why Madison had suddenly opposed him so fiercely, and not so long ago the two were their closest allies, which together led to the writing and adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the eventual establishment of the United States of America. But he did not give up, still insisted on his plan, and did his best among the members of Congress, trying his best to facilitate its adoption and proposing solutions to various problems raised by the opposition.
But what Hamilton didn't know at the time was that what he did inadvertently changed American history. Madison's opposition to his fiscal plan was entirely influenced by Jefferson, and Jefferson did not care about his financial plan, and What kind of United States would the United States become under the influence of such a financial plan?
Jefferson had always advocated the creation of a federal state with very little central power and state sovereignty; Hamilton, on the contrary, advocated the creation of a centralized federal state, and his financial plan was drawn up in full accordance with this goal, so in response to the problems of the time, the solutions he proposed in the plan were all aimed at strengthening the power of the federal government.
In response to the question of how to repay the national debt after taking over, Hamilton creatively proposed the establishment of a national bank and the issuance of a unified currency to guarantee the government's reserve federal fund, as well as to provide loans and guarantees for commercial activities, to manage local banks in the states, and so on.
One might wonder if it was normal for the federal government to establish a national bank? Why "inventive"?
Fed
In fact, in our current view, it is normal and very necessary for the government to establish a national bank to implement the country's financial policies, to manage the country's treasury and issue bonds. But we now know that in the United States at that time, the vast majority of people did not have a unified concept, even the states did not regard this newly formed federal state as a unified whole, so in their minds the states were their homeland, so it was a great thing for a bank established by the federal government to control the finances of the states, a blasphemy against freedom and democracy, and even more a violation of "sovereignty", which could not be agreed to.
The most important thing is that the banks in the United States before this were all established or operated by private individuals, and the establishment of banks by the government is an unprecedented initiative, of course, there is also the suspicion that the government uses banks to control private property.
Today's Bank of America is actually a commercial bank, not a national bank
For opponents, Hamilton's purpose in establishing the National Bank was to make the people's property public. In fact, Hamilton's purpose for the establishment of the National Bank, although not as opponents think, is not much different, and it is mainly to give the federal government the power to collect taxes throughout the country, which is the second clause in the fiscal plan.
(Long series, to be continued)