Introduction
Jefferson and Hamilton notoriously disliked each other. They had opposing views on almost everything, especially when it came to matters of government.
Task
Read the following Primary Source Documents and answer the questions associated with them.
Process
Document A
“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule where fifty-one percent of the people may take away
the rights of the other forty nine.”
-Thomas Jefferson
“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle that though the will of the majority is in all cases to
prevail, that will be rightful must be reasonable, that the minority possess their equal rights, which
equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.”
-Thomas Jefferson
- What is the attitude of Thomas Jefferson toward the majority?
- What is democracy according to Jefferson?
Document B
“Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit
tools for the designs of ambition.”
-Thomas Jefferson
- How does Jefferson view dependence?
- What might he be referring to in this quote?
Document C
“Experience hath shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with
power have in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into Tyranny”.
-Thomas Jefferson
- What is Jefferson’s view of government?
- What ‘experience’ might Jefferson be referring to in the above quote?
Document D
“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in
this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige
it to control itself”.
-Alexander Hamilton
8. According to Hamilton, who should have the power in a government?
9. What beliefs in government that Hamilton had might influence this quote?
Document E
“Constitutions should consist only of general provisions, the reason is that they must necessarily
be permanent, and they cannot calculate for the possible change of things”.
-Alexander Hamilton
10. Why would a strong national government help to allow the constitution to change?
11. List examples of how the constitution has changed since being written.
Document F
“Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it or because it
may have been planned by those whom they dislike”.
-Alexander Hamilton
“The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right...can a democratic
assembly who annually revolve in the mass of the people be supposed steadily to pursue the
public good”?
-Alexander Hamilton
12. Who might Hamilton be referring to in the first quote?
13. How might these arguments be used to prove the arguments of the Federalists?