In class yesterday we discussed the differing political opinions of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. After learning about these two men and their views of what America should look like I was curious to see what roles they played in the war. After doing some research I discovered that Hamilton and Jefferson played two very different roles in the revolutionary war.
Alexander Hamilton played the role of the soldier and officer during the revolution. In 1776 he left kinds college to serve as the captain of an artillery company that he helped organize. Hamilton was intelligent and quite skilled as a commander. In January of 1777 George Washington, who was quite impressed with hamiltons skill in battle, invited him to join his staff as his aid-de-camp, a military officer who acts as a confidential assistant to a senior officer. Between 1777 and 1781 Hamilton worked as Washington's assistant and confidante. In February 1781 Hamilton decided he wanted to be a part of the action and fight in battle, so he left Washington's staff and went off to fight. In July of the same year, he tried to return to the army with a field command but Washington said no. Eventually, Washington gave in and gave him the key assault on a British redoubt at Yorktown. He helped to win the battle of Yorktown alongside his friend and leader Marquis de Lafayette. After the war, Hamilton went home to his wife and went on to become a lawyer and a key person in the founding of America.
Unlike Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson did not fight in the war, he wasn't even present in America during the war. In 1775 Jefferson was selected to be a delegate to the second continental congress. He was asked to draft the declaration of independence, which was adopted on July 4th, 1776. In the fall of 1776 Jefferson resigned from the Continental Congress and was re-elected to the Virginia House of Delegates (previously known as the House of Burgesses. He was later elected to be Governor of Virginia in 1779 and re-elected in 1780. During his time as governor, Jefferson made some choices that many consider questionable. When General Benedict Arnold captured the arsenal outside Richmond, Jefferson and members of the house fled to his plantation. When they were pursued Jefferson took his family to another one of his plantations. Many saw this as a lack of leadership in a time of crisis and because of this, he was not re-elected for a third term. He, like Hamilton, was a well-renowned lawyer and played a key role in the founding of America.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson
http://www.ouramericanrevolution.org/index.cfm/people/view/pp0050
http://www.aboutthomasjefferson.com/thomas-jefferson-war/228/
I think that by diving into the backstories of both of these men, it really helped me understand them better as people and politicians.
ReplyDeleteI like how this post highlights the different ways Hamilton and Jefferson contributed to the war, as Jefferson wasn't even present during the entire thing and yet he wrote the Declaration of Independence! I think this makes Hamilton's focus on a strong central government and his desire to make America a truly great power on the global stage can be traced back to his work with Washington, who represented that strong central government, and his involvement in the war that brought him together with people from across the country. This contrasts Jefferson's more state-centered view.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that Hamilton was even involved in the war in an aspect of actually fighting in it. This article broadened my knowledge of the differing views of these two founding fathers. I can see how Hamilton developed his views of the world in contrast to Jefferson. Their presence in the Revolutionary War shows us the start of their contrast in morales and ideas.
ReplyDelete