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Federalism and the American System of Government

" Amos Singletury, yet another anti-federalist from Massachusetts wrote, "These lawyers, men of learning, and moneyed men expect to get into congress themselves so they can get all the power and all the money into their own hands." Clearly these are sentiments warning against elitism.
             To further show the grasp of elitism we can look at the years 1790-1791, Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, put forth his fiscal plan which not surprisingly favored his immediate acquaintances, many of them financers and seaport merchants. Part of his plan was to redeem war bonds at face value. This was a clear benefit to the wealthy because, knowing this before hand, they had gone out and bought up the war bonds from the "common man" at far less than face value thus they were going to profit from this. The tie between the wealthy and the government may well have started here.
             Through times of racial discrimination the government has proven to be elitist. The relocation of Native Americans onto reservations and the detention of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, for example. Then there's the issue that split the nation in two and one could even say split the elites into two, i.e. slavery. The southern elite who were large cotton and tobacco farmers favored slavery and the northern elite (businessmen) didn"t.
             Why is it the elite have such a great influence you may ask? What makes them have the edge? The answer is money. Here in the United States the upper class owns the major share of corporate and personal wealth. The wealthiest 1% own 37% of the nations net worth and controls 20-25% of all the nations wealth. The wealthiest 10% controls 86% of the nations wealth. What do these elite do with this money? They give a lot to political campaigns therefore by placing themselves as the bank account for any political hopeful they are able to get what they want in return. A good example is an entrepreneur by the name Bo Pilgrim.


Essays Related to Federalism and the American System of Government

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5. Weaknesses of the Articles of the Confederation

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6. Federalism and the United States

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8. Federalism

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10. Government and American Federalism

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