Jefferson was measured and graceful. Hamilton was impulsive and insecure. Jefferson preferred farms and rural life while Hamilton was from New York City. Jefferson imagined a government that was strong and centralized on foreign policy. He believed that American's should not depend on their government. If they did then they would not be independent. Hamilton, however , wanted people to depend on the government. He believed that the government should play a strong role on American's lives; that the collective, consolidated national identity should be primary.
Hamilton felt America's strength lay in commerce. Hamilton's America was an America of businessmen, bankers, entrepreneurs and financiers. Whereas Jefferson believed that the government should help the farmers on whom the commercialists preyed.
