"States, like individuals, who observe their engagements, are respected and trusted: while the reverse is the fate of those who pursue an opposite conduct... The proper funding of the present debt, will render it a national blessing." — Alexander Hamilton, Report on Public Credit, January 1790
Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans most fundamentally objected to Hamilton's program because they believed it:
- A
Made the United States too friendly with revolutionary France
- B
Imposed too heavy a tax burden on coastal merchants
- C
Failed to provide enough protection for American manufacturing
- Dcheck_circle
Concentrated wealth and federal power, favoring northern speculators over agrarian citizens
Explanation
Jefferson and Madison feared assumption rewarded speculators who had bought up depreciated bonds and tilted the republic toward a moneyed northern elite at the expense of yeoman farmers. They generally opposed manufacturing subsidies, and the program had no special tilt toward France.