[dgun]

The man inspires strong emotion 200 years after his death.

Personally, I greatly dislike him. I think that he was a Napoleon wannabe and would have made himself a King or Emperor if he had the chance. These charges were made at Burr also, but at least Burr’s idea was to go west and make his own empire and not pull the rug out of an existing one.

Hamilton was a Federalist, supported a strong central government, a National Bank, etc. As such he was allied with Washington and was opposed by Jefferson and his gang. Adams, who at the time was thought to be of the same mindset as Hamilton, actually didn’t care for Hamilton. Adams was much more of a centrist than people understood at the time. Burr, who of course shot and killed Hamilton, was also a federalist, but was a big rival with Hamilton in national and New York politics. The two men did not like each other at all.

A lot of this dislike came from the fact that Hamilton was very much at work in the background during elections and had worked against Hamilton on several occasions. When Jefferson was chosen by congress as the third President, it turns out that Hamilton had been lobbying hard for a third candidate and had cost Burr the presidency in the general election. This made Adams in particular happy and he made a statement similar to “Now one of the two men that Hamilton despises the most will become President”.

At any rate, during the time leading up to the XYZ affair, there was much worry and concern that the US was going to go to war with France. The US did not have a standing army at the time and Adams called on Washington to head this army. Washington insisted that Hamilton be second in charge. This was Hamilton’s big chance and he very much wanted war. When Adams proved to be level headed and acted to stop an official war, and ended the undeclared war at sea, this blew Hamilton’s last chance at Kingship. His political career was pretty much over due to a sex scandal and this was his last chance at redemption.

I may have some these facts in disarray, but this is pretty close I think.

At any rate, I am very suspicious of the man and always have been.

Comments?

[Le Rouge]

While I sympathize with Jefferson's Utopian vision of a kind of yeoman ward democracy--ultimately, it was Hamilton's economic policies that would accelerate the industrial and technical progress of the United States pushing toward he abolition of slavery, the concentration of labor in urban clusters--and the consequent absence of a need for westward expansion, the advent of industrial capitalism, and other generally historic-progressive acts. However, Hamilton lacked both the prowess and leadership to conduct his plan.

[canadiancapitalist]

Hamilton is the grandfather of American fascism, so I guess you could say I disapprove of him.

[Oxymoron]

I trully respect the man, it would have served the US well to have him as President. BTW we should have fought France, and not expose our backside to continued rape at sea for another 20 years.

[Paradigm]

Jefferson and Hamilton represent dual aspects of what America has been about since its inception, and we owe a great debt to both men's visions for America. Ultimately, while I sympathize with Jefferson's populist impulses, it was Hamilton who really understood economics and laid a foundation for America's rise to prosperity.

[Zyx]

A lot of this dislike came from the fact that Hamilton was very much at work in the background during elections and had worked against Hamilton on several occasions.

If this is true, I dislike him too.

Comments?

Make an argument for disliking him. That was a list of interesting historical facts, but nothing to suggest that he was a bad person.

--

I never particularly liked Jefferson. Two-faced slave owners are kind of despicable to me. Also, someone who would take Benny Frank's (Benjamin Franklin's) credit for the DoI is a lame-o. Sure, Benny Frank wanted as much, but that's not something that we, contemporarily, should still be influenced by.

Benny Frank was awesome.

Anyhow, I requested the "Whiskey Rebellion" by William Hogeland from my library. Hopefully, I'll soon be able to cite where Washington turns out to be head over heels for Hamilton.

[MistyTiger]

Personally, I don't like the guy. He was so full of himself. And I think it was stupid of him to duel with Van Buren. Who challenged who? I forget.

Intellectually, I think he's all right. I think I agreed with him in that the common people don't really know what that want. The government needs intellectuals to hold the country together. For instance, I don't think Hamilton would trust states with regulating, so that could be why the federal government is in charge of that. And the government can make the system more uniform.

[dgun]

Make an argument for disliking him.

I did.

And I think it was stupid of him to duel with Van Buren.

I don't know how many duels Hamilton was in, but Burr was the one who shot and killed him.

[Zyx]

Hamilton made a lot of duels and he mostly called them. He's cool like that. He had the first shot on Burr and missed on purpose. Burr, being a bastard, killed Hamilton.

[MistyTiger]

I think Hamilton had a good political career going. I wonder what it would have been like if he hadn't died.

Oops! Yeah, it was Burr. I wrote Van Buren...oh geez.

[dgun]

had the first shot on Burr and missed on purpose.

Speculation.

Burr, being a bastard,

Funny you should call Burr a bastard when he wasn't and Hamilton was.

I wrote Van Buren...oh geez.

That's cool. There was some speculation that Van Buren was Burr's illegitimate child, because the two supposedly favored. Of course this was more than likely just nasty politics.

I think Hamilton had a good political career going.

Well, remember that he resigned as Secretary of the Treasury due to an affair. So he's reputation was pretty well damaged at that time. He may have made a comeback, but I think his only hope of that was military success in a war with France.

[MistyTiger]

That's cool. There was some speculation that Van Buren was Burr's illegitimate child, because the two supposedly favored. Of course this was more than likely just nasty politics.

Really? I never heard that.

[pugsville]

I've read Gore Vidals books but havent really followed up with some actuall history reading. not good on american history. Quite like Vidal's reading but not too sure on the accurancy.

[dgun]

I've read Gore Vidals books

I read Burr also.

Like you suggest, I don't know how much of the historical background info you can take as accurate, since the book was fiction.

But there is a new biography about Burr out. I read the first couple of chapters at the library and it seemed promising. Most of Burr's papers were lost at sea. Also, he only had 1 or 2 children and neither survived him long enough to defend him to posterity. So much of his reputation is painted by Hamilton supporters and Hamilton's children.

[Zyx]

This high-handedness stunned everybody, not least Schuyler. But Hamilton told people privately that for all the incense the world burned for the great man [Washington], working for him was hell. The general had always wanted greater closeness between them, according to Hamilton; he'd been forced, he said, to rebuff Washington's advances and keep their relationship military and professional.

This is the first reference that I could find. I particularly recall a reference to the letters being exchanged but since indexing doesn't work to my fancy, I could not find as much in my quick once-over. Either way, in the sources, I see where he get's his Hamilton references: "The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. Ed. Harold C. Syrett, assoc. ed. Jacob E. Cooke. Columbia University Press, 1961-87." It may be that others recorded Hamilton for saying that, but as far as the claim on the attraction of Washington to Hamilton, that'd be a great place to look.

[Potemkin]

Hamilton's statement does not necessarily imply that Washington had the hots for him; it could simply mean that Washington wanted a personal friendship between them, which Hamilton rejected. Given Hamilton's general unpopularity and emotional distance from the people around him, this explanation is at least as plausible as the idea that Washington was physically attracted to him.