With the United States" debt only growing after the Revolutionary War, a plan was needed to alleviate the newly created U.S. of their serious economic problems. Alexander Hamilton, a passionate Federalist, proposed to Congress in January 1790 that the federal government assume all of the state debts, therefore allowing the money to be paid back more efficiently and quickly. Hamilton's plan is the true federal approach to any situation that the revolutionary generation faced: put it under the control of the central government. However, Hamilton's Republican opponents, under the leadership of James Madison, purposely blocked the approval of his proposal. The Republicans believed that each state should be responsible for its own money; not only because it would be unfair if a state with less debt had to pay more due to another state having a higher debt, but also because putting complete economic control of debts into the federal government was highly reminiscent of Great Britain's economic policies. The Republicans claimed that assumption was against the ideals of the American Revolution, and that if the assumption law were to pass, the U.S. would become exactly what they had so adamantly fought against during the Revolutionary War. The Federalists, however, countered Madison's concerns by stating that a country can only function with a strong government. Although the assumption debate was eventually solved with a compromise, the dispute between federal versus state in both economic and political standpoints was far from over. Assumption was much more than a basic economic difference: assumption was simply a nickname for power. The states were being asked to place all of their trust into one central government. Republicans feared the new federal government would consume them, while Federalists acted oblivious to the evils of complete power. This argument between federal versus state power continued in our nation's history, and persists even until this day.
