 | by Ron Chernow |
Alexander Hamilton is one of our least-known and undervalued founding fathers. As I read this I was amazed by the sheer volume of institutions that Hamilton contributed to our country. Hamilton deserveds our gratitude for many things: banking, commerce, and trade among them. Not to mention his service in the American Revolution.
Ron Chernow deserves our gratitude for bringing this hero to life in such a readable fashion. You can almost see Hamilton walking through the streets of New York or Philadelphia. You can almost hear him talking to Washington or Adams or his wife Eliza.
Hamilton and his peers were remarkably prescient. Some examples of comments and observations that are relevant to our world today.
On Lord North and power: ...in common life, to retract an error even in the beginning is no easy task.
On waging war: The British were unhinged by the colonists' unorthodox fighting style and shocking failure to abide by gentlemanly rules of engagement. One scandalized British soldier complained that the American riflemen "conceal themselves behind trees etc. till an opportunity presents itself of taking a shot at our advance sentries, which done, they immediately retreat. What an unfair method of carrying on a war!"
On market economy: Hamilton did not create America's market economy so much as foster the cultural and legal setting in which it flourished. A capitalist society requires certain preconditions. Among other things, it must establish a rule of law through enforceable contracts; respect private property; create a trustworthy bureaucracy to arbitrate legal disputes; and offer patents and other protections to promote invention.
On government and public goods: He also recommended that the government inspect flour exports at all ports, "to improve the quality of our flour everywhere and to raise its reputation in foreign markets." Endorsing still another form of government activism, Hamilton claimed that nothing had assisted Britain's industry more than its network of public roads and canals. He therefore touted internal improvements-what we would today call public infrastructure-to meld America's scattered regional markets into a single unified economy.
On propaganda: He had learned a lesson about propaganda in politics and mused wearily that "no character, however upright, is a match for constantly reiterated attacks, however false." If a charge was made often enough, people assumed in the end "that a person so often accused cannot be entirely innocent."
On destructive politics: Doubtless Hamilton thought that he could pick up the pieces of a shattered Federalist party. What he overlooked was that in trying to wreck Adams's career, he would wreck his own and that the Federalists would never be resurrected from the ashes.
John Adams on diplomacy: ...it was a stunning vindication of his stubborn faith in diplomacy against Hamilton's saber rattling. He established a vital precedent that timely, well-executed diplomacy can forestall the need for military force.[italics mine]
My first Chernow book was Titan, a wonderful history of John D. Rockefeller and the Rockefeller family. I was excited to read another and will surely read more. Biographies written by the likes of Chernow, Manchester, and Caro are a wonderful way to experience history and learn about the people who shaped our world.
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