Chapter IV

Corporate Capital and the New Hamiltonians

The genius of Alexander Hamilton was not of an age but for all time.
His constructive system of national credit and protection to home industry has survived its author by more than a century,
and today the spirit of his policy—though sometimes perverted—governs every industrial enterprise that contributes to the strength and wealth of the Republic.
He beheld the future greatness of America in her commerce, her manufactures, and her agriculture, harmoniously developed under one national authority.

The “New Hamiltonians,” as Simpkins calls them, are the modern exponents of that policy—men who believe in the maintenance of public credit, the encouragement of enterprise, and the protection of American labor.
But he cautions that while Hamilton sought national independence, the imitators of his system too often seek corporate dominion.
The protective tariff, conceived as a shield for the workingman, has been transformed in some quarters into a weapon for monopoly.
Simpkins urges a return to the moral purpose of Hamilton’s original plan: to make industry the servant of the nation, not its master.

The author notes that Jefferson’s followers, though opposed to the centralizing tendencies of Hamilton’s system,
have themselves adopted many of its principles in practice, while continuing to denounce it in name.
“Every Democratic administration,” he writes, “has been compelled by necessity to revert to Hamilton’s policy when confronted by the practical needs of government.”
The war revenue acts, the reorganization of the Treasury, and the chartering of banks have all borne the impress of Hamilton’s genius,
even when carried out by those who professed allegiance to Jefferson.

Washington, whose prudence guided both Hamilton and Jefferson through their conflicts,
foresaw that the permanence of the Republic depended on a union of financial wisdom and political virtue.
In contrast, Andrew Jackson’s crusade against the Bank of the United States is presented as a passionate but misguided reaction—
a triumph of emotion over reason that temporarily unsettled the nation’s finances and encouraged speculative excess.

Simpkins concludes that the modern industrial age, with its trusts and railways and corporations,
must find its moral compass not in Hamilton’s power alone, but in Jefferson’s humanity.

“The one made a nation strong; the other would make it just.
Between them lies the path of safety—the road of liberty guided by law.”