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You are quoting Adam Smith, so I know you are not arguing against capitalism, although it appears so. Further, you seem to imply that Hamilton--the man who directly risked his life several times in support of liberty--was less dedicated to that concept than Jefferson. Nonsense.

Hamilton--a man who argued against slavery, while Jefferson paid lip service to abolition, though supported slavery in fact and in deed. Jefferson always impressed me as the first American limousine liberal.

Hamilton was a self-made man, and believed that helping to create a dynamic economy allowed others to move up. I never got the feeling that TJ felt the same...I could be wrong.

Arguing against 'mercantilism' seems to me to be arguing against capitalism. I think that today's analogous remark would be that not taxing the rich more would 'favor' them over the rest. Bah.

Let's begin with your last point first.

I see that you are not a student of Adam Smith as annotated by your comment: “Arguing against ‘mercantilism’ seems to me to be arguing against capitalism.”

What you seem not to know is that Smith's entire work was devoted to free markets, enterprise, and his dedication to the laissez-faire economy.

In simple terms, Smith was a free market capitalist. His work was in direct opposition to mercantilism.

The fundamental assertions of mercantilism, a term that I think he developed, were that national wealth will come through the import and accumulation of gold or other precious metals such as silver, and that trade should be based strictly on hard metals accumulation.

Smith was highly critical of this theory of wealth and he clearly understood the class bias and loss of personal liberty in the merchant system that supported it. In fact, Smith expressed great concern about colonialism, as seen in his home country, and the early history of the United States; and the monopoly trade routes instituted by the merchant class, which often worked against the economic interests of the citizenry.

Your comment: "Hamilton--a man who argued against slavery, while Jefferson paid lip service to abolition, though supported slavery in fact and in deed. Jefferson always impressed me as the first American limousine liberal."

So, let's examine the two.

On the issue of slavery, here is Thomas Jefferson's record.

Beginning with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Jefferson introduced strong wording in the initial draft condemning the practices and processes of the slave trade.

In the Virginia Assembly, in the 1788, legislator Jefferson supported a bill to prohibit the state from importing slaves.

Next, in the 1784 Congress, Jefferson proposed federal legislation banning slavery in the New Territories of the Northwest.

As President in 1807 he signed a bill prohibiting the US from participating in the international slave trade.

And now Hamilton's actions:............