Thomas Paine, Debt Realist and Political Economist Extraordinaire

Thomas Paine and Alexander Hamilton on the national debt

https://www.aier.org/article/thomas-paine-debt-realist-and-political-economist-extraordinaire/

When the author of this article claims that Hamilton was influenced by Paine, he is likely correct. But to infer that Paine and Hamilton were allies in anything other than rudimentary economic theory after 1782 would be a bit of a stretch. After arguably initiating Federalism and manifesting as an arch-Federalist early in the Revolutionary War, Paine evolved to became a leading figure of the Antifederalists and perhaps the individual most despised by the Federalists. Hamilton, the protegé of George Washington, evolved the opposite direction and became more and more Federalist; for many, the leader of that faction. By the time that Paine returned from France in 1802, he viewed Washington, Adams, and Hamilton as proto-monarchists who had corrupted and subverted the ideals of the American Revolution.