A couple weeks ago, we learned how the United States was initially split into the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. I was interested in why James Madison, commonly known as the “Father of the Constitution,” later formed the Democratic-Republican party with Jefferson in spite of what would have seemed to be Federalist roots.
At first, Madison believed that America required a strong centralized federal government to protect its citizens, which motivated him to write the Federalist papers along with Hamilton and Jay. Madison also supported the Federalist policy of tariffs in order to finance the government, but he started to draw the line when it came to the national bank. Although Madison initially supported a strong central government, he saw Hamilton’s and Jay’s policies as going too far. As a result, Madison was also motivated to propose amendments to the Constitution in order to protect from an overly strong government that Hamilton would have advocated. Madison later decided that his views better aligned with Jefferson’s, which motivated his part in the formation of the Democratic-Republican party.
Hamilton’s transition from holding a Federalist belief to leaning more Democratic-Republican is one of many instances in history where a politician’s views evolved over time. Sometimes we forget that politics and political beliefs are not always (and often not) static, and Madison serves as a strong reminder of that. Another example of evolving beliefs is President Abraham Lincoln, whose political views on slavery evolved from his initial debut in politics to throughout his presidency, culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation. In Lincoln’s case, his political evolution was very important in shaping the America we have today.
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You should fix the text-wrapping. I'm sure what you wrote is very interesting but I can't read it.
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