Hamilton and Jefferson hated each other passionately, but I admit, the more I learned about the both of them, the more I liked Hamilton and the less I liked Jefferson.
Jefferson stabbed Washington in the back by anonymously spreading stories that Washington was a doddering, easily manipulated, and disengaged leader.
Washington found out from an unimpeachable source who was behind it, and confronted Jefferson directly, and let him know in no uncertain terms that he was aware of what Jefferson had been doing (in his attempts to get back at Hamilton) and that socially, they were finished.
It was said that while he and Jefferson would speak to each other in public settings, Washington never again spoke to Jefferson or saw him privately.
An attempt to create an elective monarchy in the United States failed. Alexander Hamilton argued in a long speech before the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that the President of the United States should be an elective monarch, ruling for "good behavior" (i.e., for life, unless impeached) and with extensive powers. Hamilton believed that elective monarchs had sufficient power domestically to resist foreign corruption, yet there was enough domestic control over their behavior to prevent tyranny at home.[3] His proposal was resoundingly voted down in favor of a four-year term with the possibility of reelection. In his later defense of the Constitution in the Federalist Papers, he often hints that a lifetime executive might be better, even as he praises the system with the four-year term.
I admire Washington and hoped Jefferson’s battle of ideas would prevail, but Hamilton’s ideas of centralized federal power have prevailed today. awesome book on hamilton http://www.amazon.com/Hamiltons-Curse-Jeffersons-Revolution-Americans/dp/0307382850
Jefferson was way too self-righteous -- far too convinced that he was on the right side and everything he did was justified. Hamilton seems a little more level-headed.
But then, Jefferson won -- at least in his own era. If Hamilton had lived and come back into power, he might well have become as big-headed and overbearing as Jefferson was.