Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson both had varying views on what direction the United States should go in. Hamilton wanted an industrial nation based on capitalism and Jefferson wanted the United States to remain a mainly agrarian society. It is obvious by looking around today that Hamilton�s vision was the one that won out. I think that my students need to see how our society developed into what it is today. Industrialization had a great affect on the course of the nation and played an important role in many events that happened in United States history. To help understand why our nation turned in the direction it did the students need to learn about the differences between Hamilton�s view and Jefferson�s view.

Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had completely opposite views on almost everything and did not get along very well. Jefferson wanted the United States to remain a nation of farmers. He believes that people should be self-sufficient and does not want people working for other people. He does not like the coal mines in England and does not want to see Americans working in them. He fears the minority, which are the rich, because he fears that they will deny the majority their rights. Jefferson knew that in order to have an agrarian society more land was needed. In 1803, under Jefferson, the territory in Louisiana was purchased and became know as the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson�s goal was to make land easy to get and to fill society with a bunch of farmers.

Alexander Hamilton believed the exact opposite of Jefferson. He was in favor of the wealthy. He knew that in order to have an industrial nation that nation needs investors. He did not want to set the wealthy aside and not make policies to please them. Hamilton wanted a nation based on capitalism, which emphasized individual success. His fear was of the majority. Hamilton thought that the majority would try to take from the minority.

Most Americans at that time were not in favor of an industrial nation. They had heard about what happened to Great Britain and did not want the same for their new nation. Even though the majority were in favor of Jefferson�s vision Hamilton�s vision is the one that succeeded. America�s change towards industrialism happened for many reasons. The main cause of the change to an industrial nation happened as a result of the Embargo Act of 1807. Around this time Great Britain and France had decided to go to war with one another. The United States decided to stay nuetral and not take sides. They thought that they could remain trading with both countries and capitalize on it. The only problem was that Great Britain and France did not like that the United States was trading with the other. Great Britain imposed an old rule that they had established in 1756 saying that nuetral ships could only carry goods that would normally be carried in times of peace. Shortly after France came out with the Berlin Decree which banned all trade to Britain. Great Britain then began taking over the United States ships and forcing the sailors to become a part of their navy. Jefferson in defense established the Embargo Act of 1807. All United States Ships could no longer trade with foreign ports. In so doing he signed a death warrant to his dream of and agrarian society. Americans could no longer get the goods they wanted from foreign countries so they now had to start making them on their own. In order to make these products factories had to develop and this was the start of industrialization in America.

I want to teach a lesson on this because Industrialization only happens in the north. This causes an even bigger dividing line between the south and the north and adds to the slavery issue. To go along with this lesson I thought that it might be a good idea to divide the class up into two groups and have them debate against each other on the advantages and disadvantages of both Jefferson�s view and Hamilton�s view. This will help them to think about the differences between the two views and establish their own ideas about industrialization.