Volume 7, Issue 32
Each new state reflected different political opinions on the role of government. Not all recognized certain federal authority. There was foreign interference in the elections for president (the French 1798). Debate in Congress was beyond bitter. It was invective, at times resulting in personal duels. Commerce, taxation, and immigration were at the center of the vitriol.
As in the times of Hamilton, Jefferson and Washington, we find ourselves repeating history.
Incumbent in this debate about a strong central government was the issue of state militias versus a federal army. Immediately preceding Napoleon’s rise to power, the French were threatening war with the young United States. John Adams commissioned George Washington to reconstitute a federal army in preparation for defense of the country. Washington demanded to be able to appoint his own generals, and at the top of his list was Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson feared a reestablished federal army. He felt it would threaten the rights of state militias to defend themselves. The conflict was not so much about gun control than as, more simply, the right to bear arms. The Second Amendment partially emanated from this consternation. Again, we find ourselves enmeshed in hyperbole about the rights to own a gun. We forget how great the struggle was in the beginning to establish consensus in the early history of the United States.
Today, certain cities declare themselves sanctuary cities to harbor illegal immigrants in direct opposition to federal law enforcement agencies. A few states have considered becoming sanctuary states. Many college campuses are in legal jeopardy in that their state of residence has legalized marijuana. Marijuana is still illegal by federal law. College campuses could not enforce the restriction of marijuana 50 years ago. How are they going to do it today in this legal environment?
The answer to conflicts of authority lies in the moral American mandate to trust in the greater good.
In ratifying the U.S. Constitution, the former colonies did something voluntarily that had never happened before in history, and most likely will never happen again. They voted to yield leveraged power over neighboring colonies to a Republic of States that promised greater prosperity in unity than in competition. New York was the industrial power of the day. It had the ability to leverage its infrastructure to dominate South Carolina. The Carolinas were dependent on the New York harbor for critical products of trade. By supporting the Constitution, the new United States agreed to support each other through interstate commerce and finance for the greater good of the national economy. Selling this philosophical concept was the incredible successful effort of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist Papers.
To achieve these financial goals required a single currency and a federal banking system to manage money supply and debt. Further, the United States’ credit was established in world markets. This was the brilliance of Alexander Hamilton. Ironically, Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton’s political opponent, benefitted greatly in 1803. Napoleon, desperate for cash, put the Louisiana Territory up for sale. That purchase could never have been made if Hamilton had not been successful in establishing the American banking system and U.S. credit. Without the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. western boundary would have been the Mississippi River. Some other country or consortium would have purchased the territory. Westward expansion would have been most difficult, if not impossible. Mexico and Spain would have played a greater role in the western United States. North America would most likely have resulted in several different countries, much like South America. This then would have, in fact, changed history dramatically in the results of World War I, World War II, and the expansion of communism.
Trusting in the greater good for the right reasons can bear unforeseen benefits.
Democracy is the ongoing process of finding compromise on the road to common purpose. Defining the common objective is now what is critical. Capital markets first established by the Dutch, advanced by the British, and brought to global maturity by the United States, has produced world prosperity. The ills of society must still be addressed, but not at the destruction of capitalism. Capitalism, with respect to morality in support of freedom, is the goal of democracy. These elements of this equation of freedom can be reversed, for they depend interchangeably upon each other.
There is one important distinction between then and now. Hamilton believed that borrowing money was appropriate. However, he also believed that debts must be managed and repaid by the generation that accumulated them. Both George Washington and Alexander Hamilton were adamant that no generation should pass on debt to a succeeding generation. Debts should be paid and budgets should be balanced. By 1820, when President James Madison invoked the Monroe Doctrine halting further colonialization of the Americas, the United States was financially sound and had the resources to back up its foreign policy. The sound financial foundation of America had been set.
The United States government must get deficit spending under control. No country, no matter how economically great, can spend and borrow forever.
At critical times in history, Americans have found their bearings to trust in the greater good. We ratified the Constitution. We established a strong central bank. We have supported freedom worldwide. We continue to argue about purpose in identity, but we cling to the greater good of not leveraging our power over others.
Today, more than ever, America has to find that same resolve to trust in the greater good.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?