“An Arboreal Army Fighting For Economic Independence”

                                        Cats and dogs, oil and water, Jefferson and Hamilton.

Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were two very different men. Jefferson favored a weak central government and advocated rule of the common people. He thought an agrarian society would most benefit the United States, and, therefor, opposed mercantilism. Hamilton, on the other hand, thought the aristocratic class should rule. He believed in a strong central government, modeled after Britain’s.

            In 1789, Hamilton was appointed as the Secretary of Treasury of the United States. Hamilton’s proposals for the growing nation’s economy focused on consolidating the national debt, serving to increase the power of the federal government. Hamilton’s financial plans favored merchants and speculators. Jefferson saw this as rather foolish, stating, “wealth acquired by speculation is fugacious”. Jefferson recognized Hamilton’s plans as a serious threat to the agrarian society he intended. As Wulf so eloquently worded it, Jefferson advocated “an arboreal army fighting for economic independence”.

          While Hamilton’s plans loomed, Jefferson continued to work towards this agrarian society. He believed that, with the right crops, the United States could achieve full independence- not only by being able to stop relying on importing from other countries, but also by being able to enter the global market themselves. If Jefferson’s value of botany wasn’t evident enough, he even goes so far as to say he “ranks botany with the most valuable of sciences”.

In the previous chapter (chapter 3), Wulf discusses Jefferson’s appraisals of various crops he encountered during his travels across Europe a few years prior. Jefferson ruled out many potential crops. For example, he found vineyards “not important enough” and almonds “too precarious”.

One crop in particular that Jefferson predicted would be very suitable for the United States was rice. While visiting Italy in 1787, he actually smuggled rice out of the country, despite the threat of the death penalty. Jefferson believed that the rice could be successfully grown on dry land, rather than the growing methods the US currently used- growing rice in flooded paddies in the South. Moving rice cultivation to dry land would allow the rice industry to spread to other areas, including the ever-expanding West. Knowing he had to move quickly with Hamilton’s plans afoot, Jefferson sent out requests all over Europe for rice seeds. He received samples back from many European nations. Jefferson spread the rice seed around the US and encouraged farmers to try it out. Georgia’s rice crop flourished especially well. Jefferson was so proud of this that, later in life, he listed it among his greatest accomplishments, right alongside The Constitution.

Jefferson also pushed for American farmers to make sugar maple a staple crop. At that time, the United States was entirely dependence upon European sugar. Jefferson, longing to break as many ties from Great Britain as possible, saw sugar cultivation as a key strategy for doing so. Sugar maple cultivation in the United States was incredibly successful.

While spreading rice and sugar maple throughout the nation, Jefferson also attempted his own growing projects with the two crops. Though his projects were usually unsuccessful (he tried growing sugar maples at Monticello, but the climate was not conducive), he did not give up. Jefferson understood the importance of crops to our growing economy and he was determined to see out his own plans.