In American politics, there has been nothing like a good debate to elucidate principles and sharpen differences. For proof, one need look no further than the great debates between Webster and Hayne, or Lincoln and Douglas. While not as formally structured as those clashes, the titanic struggle — through a series of documents, across an array of issues, and over a wider span of time — between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson was just as dramatic and just as consequential for the course of American history.
With a keen eye for the best talent, new president George Washington in 1789 tapped the eloquent and idealistic Jefferson to be secretary of state and his brash but beloved former aide-de-camp Hamilton to be secretary of the Treasury. By the middle of 1792, Hamilton and Jefferson were at loggerheads about the political project to which both had dedicated so much thought and effort. Washington’s Herculean efforts could not restrain their growing disagreements. They became lightning rods for every political storm — Jefferson was an “intriguing incendiary,” said Hamilton; Jefferson called Hamilton “a tissue of machinations.”
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