1 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: On this episode of This World. The lives of these 2 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: men are essential to understand the American form of government 3 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: and our ideals of liberty. The Founding Fathers all played 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: in the creation of the government of the United States 6 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:34,560 Speaker 1: of America. And now the life of Alexander Hamilton Hamilton 7 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: and as since has had a new burst of fame. 8 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: But he's somebody who really never should have disappeared. First 9 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:48,200 Speaker 1: of all, he was extraordinarily bright. Hamilton may have been, 10 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:53,600 Speaker 1: in sheer iq, the smartest of all the Founding Fathers. 11 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: He was just deeply admired by Washington. He was invaluable 12 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: to Washington as a staff officer. He was endlessly competent. 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: And I think that's a key part of this is 14 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: that Hamilton was a person who was very ambitious, but 15 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,679 Speaker 1: he was also a person who worked very hard and 16 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: who applied his considerable intelligence to whatever job. He had. Now, 17 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: he actually had not gotten to the US very much 18 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: before the revolution began. He was born, we think, either 19 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: in seventeen fifty five or seventeen fifty seven on Neivas. 20 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: His father was a Scottish trader named James Hamilton his mother, 21 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,919 Speaker 1: Rachel Fassett Levi, and they were not married at the time. Rachel, 22 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: in fact, was married to another man at the time 23 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: of Hamilton's birth, but had left her husband after he 24 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: spent much of her family fortune and he had had 25 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: her in prison for adultery. Now you may be curious 26 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: why James Hamilton settled in Neavis. The British gained control 27 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: of the island in seventeen thirteen, and Nevis and Saint 28 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: Kitts soon were the leading areas of sugar production in 29 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: the Caribbean. The colonists and others wanted sugar to sweeten 30 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: their tea in cough. Its hard for us to remember, 31 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: but these islands were considered so amazingly valuable that at 32 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: one point in negotiations the British kept some islands in 33 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: the Caribbean as being of greater value than all of Canada. Unfortunately, 34 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: the islands also had malaria, so a number of people 35 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: died over the two hundred years in which they were 36 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: producing sugar there. Hamilton's father abandoned his family in seventeen 37 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: sixty six. His mother died of yellow fever two years 38 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: later in February seventeen sixty eight, so he was orphaned, 39 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,799 Speaker 1: probably at either eleven or thirteen, depending on which year 40 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: of birth was accurate. Hamilton and his older brother, James Junior, 41 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: moved in with a cousin who eventually died, and then 42 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:48,919 Speaker 1: an uncle who also died. As I said, this is 43 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 1: an area that had suffered huge casualties, largely from various 44 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: tropical diseases. After the death of his uncle, Hamilton was 45 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: taken in by Thomas Stevens, a merchant, and he was 46 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: apprenticed with him. Hamilton viewed this as the most formative 47 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: part of his education, learning how to track freight, chart 48 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: courses for ships, and calculate prices by different currencies. In 49 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: his youth, Hamilton sent poems and letters to the local newspaper. 50 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: It was remarkable because Hamilton did not have a formal education. 51 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: It's just that he was really smart and he kept learning. 52 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: He never attended school in the island, but when his 53 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,799 Speaker 1: mother was alive, she taught him French and bought books 54 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: for him and his older brother to read. In seventeen 55 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: seventy two, impressed by Hamilton's quick learning abilities and intelligence, 56 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: Hamilton's boss sponsored the young clerk's trip to the United 57 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: States to attend school there. Hamilton began his preparation for 58 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: college at a grammar school in New Jersey and enrolled 59 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: in what was then called King's College in seventeen seventy four. 60 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: It becomes eventually Columbia University. Hamilton's enrollment of King's College 61 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: speaks to his astounding skills and intelligence to be admitted 62 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: to a university on his own terms, to be allowed 63 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: to enroll in any class for which he was qualified, 64 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: and to graduate as soon as he'd completed the minimum requirements. 65 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: After being denied admission at Princeton because of his unorthodox request, 66 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 1: Hamilton was admitted to King's College under the proposed arrangement 67 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: and subsequently assigned a special tutor. No, imagine, here's this 68 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: guy who shows up from the Caribbean and immediately begin 69 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: setting his own terms of life and gets away with it. 70 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: People are so impressed with how smart he is and 71 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: how hard he works that they keep bending over trying 72 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: to help him accommodate on his terms. During his time 73 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: at King's College, Hamilton's eloquence and genius took a political 74 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,160 Speaker 1: application as the debates became more poised about the role 75 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: of the British Empire and whether or not we should 76 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 1: become independent. While he was a sophomore in the college, 77 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: Hamilton delivered an impromptu speech that passionately outlined the case 78 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: of the colonies against parliamentary injustices. Remember this is a 79 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: time when Americans are arguing with themselves. Are they really 80 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: English and merely petitioning the crown to do whatever the 81 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 1: crown wants? Or are they really this new creature called 82 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: an American? Hamilton cited as somebody whimself had no great 83 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,839 Speaker 1: roots anywhere that he was an American. He also became 84 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,919 Speaker 1: well known for his publishing a series of scathing but 85 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: reasoned responses to the Continental Congress that were published when 86 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: Hamilton was eighteen years old. Well Hamilton was in college, 87 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: the Revolutionary War began, and in seventeen seventy five he 88 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: quit school to join the army. Now Hamilton was an 89 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 1: impressive leader. He was well organized, He knew how to 90 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: get supplies to troops. He could get an amazing number 91 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,680 Speaker 1: of things done, and George Washington, who is in desperate 92 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,280 Speaker 1: need of competent help, asked Hamilton to become his assistant, 93 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 1: helping him plan battles, write letters, and manage Washington's staff. 94 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: Hamilton served in this position for four years. Now, remember 95 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: they're in the field the entire time. They're together every 96 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 1: single day, they truly get to know each other. Washington 97 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,800 Speaker 1: gets in the habit of relying heavily on Hamilton and 98 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: realizing that this is one of the brightest people, if 99 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: not the brightest person, he's ever met. Hamilton often used 100 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: his writing skills to write to the Continental Congress asking 101 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: for food and supplies for General Washington's troops, and he 102 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: watched as the Continental Congress wrote the Decoration Independence and 103 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: debated how to run the country. Now, Hamilton was so 104 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 1: smart and so widely read that with six months of 105 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: studying he passed the Bar exam without formal training. It 106 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: was just amazing. He had decided in January seventeen eighty 107 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: two he wanted to become a lawyer. He petitioned the 108 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: New York Supreme Court to let him take the bar 109 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,479 Speaker 1: exam without the required three year internship. And after all, 110 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: he had served four years as an aid to Washington, 111 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:55,360 Speaker 1: so they sort of fudged and said, well, that kind 112 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,840 Speaker 1: of counts as an internship. Hamilton taught him self law 113 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: now to aid In his studies, Hamilton studied old New 114 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: York court cases and wrote his analysis in a book 115 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: he later published called Practical Proceedings in the Supreme Court 116 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: of New York. He wrote it at the age of 117 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: twenty five. This puts him in the same league as 118 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote his famous history of the Naval 119 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: War of eighteen twelve and was published when he was 120 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: twenty five. Hamilton saw his book become the standard text 121 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: in New York legal studies for the rest of his life. 122 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: In October seventeen eighty two, Hamilton passed the bar and 123 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: was legally allowed to practice law in New York. Now, 124 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: by this stage, the war is winding down and which 125 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 1: would begin to be a national country, And this is 126 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: part of what makes Hamilton so important. Hamilton had a 127 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: vision of America as a country, not a collection of 128 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: thirteen colonies, or later on, not as a collection of 129 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: thirteen states, but rather as a truly national system. In 130 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty one, Hamilton proposed to Robert Morris, who was 131 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: Congress's Superintendent of Finance, that we needed a national bank. 132 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: He also suggested the Congress of the power to raise taxes. 133 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: At the time the Continental Congress couldn't actually levy any taxes. 134 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: They had to ask that colonies and then later when 135 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: they became states to voluntarily give them money. But they 136 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: didn't have any power to actually raise money. So Morris 137 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: liked Hamilton's ideas and fought for them in Congress. Morris 138 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: then appointed Hamilton to the possession of receiver of Continental 139 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: taxes in New York in May of seventeen eighty two. 140 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: Remember this is a few months before even passes the bar. 141 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: So he's inventing the National Bank, developing a tax system, 142 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: becoming the receiver of taxes in New York while he's 143 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: also studying to pass the bar. He accepted the position, 144 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,679 Speaker 1: he didn't have much time to get collected taxes, and frankly, 145 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: at the point, there was no real power in that job. 146 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: He couldn't go in and subpoena people or send them 147 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: to jail, or do anything. That was all basically nagged. 148 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: But from October seventeen eighty two to August of seventeen 149 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: eighty three, basically from the time he passed the bar 150 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: to seventeen eighty three, he served in Congress as a 151 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: representative State of New York. While he was there he 152 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: helped draft the peace treaty between the US and Great 153 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: Britain that ended the war. He proposed that naval activities 154 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: be banned from the Great Lakes between the US and 155 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 1: British controlled Canada. That suggestion was ignored him. By the way, 156 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 1: by eighteen twelve, naval power on the Great Lakes who 157 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: become a real issue and one of the major points 158 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: of combat during the War of eighteen twelve. In August 159 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,719 Speaker 1: of seventeen eighty three, after eight months as a congressman, 160 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: Hamilton returned to New York and finally used his law 161 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: degree to establish a legal practice. He represented several tories. 162 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: Remember there were about a third of the American people 163 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: actually were on the side of the British, a third 164 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: were for independence, and a third just wanted to hide. 165 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: The fact is as a lawyer, he felt people deserve representation, 166 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 1: so he represent then a number of Tories who had 167 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: various claims because their property had been stolen or their 168 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,440 Speaker 1: bills hadn't been paid. And a lot of people thought 169 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: that Hamilton was betraying the New Country by this kind 170 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: of representation, but Hamilton really taking a position that John 171 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: Adams had taken after the Boston massacre when he had 172 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: defended the British soldiers in Boston. Hamilton thought that the 173 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: lawyer had applied the law, that people deserved representation, and 174 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: that the war was over, that the time had come 175 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 1: to move forward, to look to the future, and that 176 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: going after the loyalists, as the Tories were called, would 177 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: simply weaken the country because it would drive people away, 178 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: which they did. A very substantial number of the wealthier 179 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: loyalist left America, went to Britain or to Canada. Hamilton, 180 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: in fact, had a very different view. In June of 181 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty four, he defended a loyalist in the Rutgers 182 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: versus Waddington case, which rose from the Trespass Act of 183 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty three. Hamilton argued that trestback Act was inconsistent 184 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:05,559 Speaker 1: with things in the Treaty of Peace that he had 185 00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: helped write. Remember, he helps write the treaty, helps pass 186 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: the treaty, so he's now in court debating what the 187 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: treaty means, and he clearly has a great deal of expertise. 188 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: He was very worried that if the case was one 189 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: and the loyalist was punished, it would drive thousands of 190 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: loyalists away from New York, negatively impacting trade. He lost, 191 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,079 Speaker 1: but Hamilton used the arguments he made in the case 192 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,240 Speaker 1: as the basis for the Federalist papers number twenty two 193 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: and seventy eight, where he argued, quote, the interpretation of 194 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:38,560 Speaker 1: the law is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. 195 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,440 Speaker 1: The case also set the state precedent for judicial review 196 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: established by the Supreme Court in eighteen oh three. Now, 197 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: Hamilton wanted a strong and powerful federal government. The truth is, 198 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: Hamilton felt more comfortable with an aristocratic government. If he 199 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: could have figured out a way to get there, He'd 200 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 1: love to have had George Washington as a new king, 201 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,920 Speaker 1: but that's where the country is going. His deeper impact 202 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,280 Speaker 1: that really mattered was that he wanted to have the 203 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:12,560 Speaker 1: nation come together, and he looked for things that would 204 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:33,559 Speaker 1: bring together everybody into thinking themselves as Americans. Hamilton maneuvered 205 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 1: and worked very hard. He ended up playing a major 206 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: role in the Constitutional Convention, and he really understood that 207 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: it was very, very important that we become a unified country. 208 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: His role in the Convention was important, and the Convention 209 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,560 Speaker 1: is an interesting example of two things we tend not 210 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: to remember one. It was a coupd ata. The people 211 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: who went to the Convention were sent to the Convention 212 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: to reform the Articles of Confederation. When they got there, 213 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: they looked around and said, this is crazy. These things 214 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: will never work. So without any kind of basic approval 215 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,599 Speaker 1: from back home, they decided they'd write a new constitution 216 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,679 Speaker 1: and completely replaced the Articles of Confederation. They did a 217 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: second thing which we often tend to forget. They decided 218 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: they'd meet in secret. So the most important document defining America, 219 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 1: the Constitution, is written in secret by a group of 220 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: people who have basically violated their rules by giving themselves 221 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,000 Speaker 1: a much bigger assignment than they were elected for. They 222 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:42,439 Speaker 1: have to work out an amazing number of details, and 223 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: it involves very deep political negotiation. They finally come together 224 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:54,320 Speaker 1: with a program and they pass out a constitution. Now, 225 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: because they understood a little bit different than some of 226 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: our current leadership, that you couldn't sustain something if it 227 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,079 Speaker 1: wasn't supported by the people, they said, you know, all 228 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: the states have to in fact endorse it. I think 229 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 1: nine of them had to endorse the constitution for it 230 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: to go into effect. Well, that meant you had to 231 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:15,600 Speaker 1: go back. Each state would have a different way of 232 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: doing it. Some would do it by vote, some would 233 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: do it by having the state legislature involved. But each 234 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: state had to find a way to ratify the constitution. 235 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: So here's this document which had been drafted in secret. 236 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: It's suddenly sprung in the country. It is outlining a 237 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: very complicated system which frankly, even today and government class 238 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: people have a hard time mastering all the details of 239 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: the Constitution. And Hamilton, along with two other people, John 240 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: Jay of New York and James Madison of Virginia, decide 241 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: to write what is in fact the most elegant and 242 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: most powerful campaign brochure ever written. And it's important to 243 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: think about that way. The Federalist papers nowadays seem like 244 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: this very sophisticated academic document that people study, but that's 245 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: not what it was. It was a collection of eighty 246 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: five articles essays written by Hamilton, Madison and Jay. They 247 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 1: appeared anonymously in New York newspapers in seventeen eighty seven 248 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: and seventeen eighty eight under the pen name Publius. And 249 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: I have to say, having spent large parts of my 250 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: life dealing with the Federalist papers. They're unbelievably brilliant. Now, 251 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: the vast majority of them were written by Hamilton. Fifty 252 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:41,160 Speaker 1: two out of the eighty five are written by Hamilton. 253 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: They address every major question about the nature of the 254 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: new government. They walk people through the reasoning that led 255 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: the government to be designed the way it was. They 256 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 1: are far and away the best primary source for understanding 257 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: what the founding fathers intended. And they worn'd I remember 258 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: this as of the country were probably only about a 259 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: third of the people could read. And here you have 260 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: this document. When I say campaign brochure, you're just picking 261 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: up a look at it. This wasn't some two page, 262 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: fancy colored document with seven pictures. This is pure print. 263 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: And what happened was, of course, relatively smart people read 264 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 1: it and then would sit around the tavern and explain it. 265 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: So the people who couldn't read were listening and asking 266 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: questions from the people who could read. And the net 267 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: result was one of the greatest educational moments in history. 268 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: The American people came together. They concluded both that it 269 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: was the right thing to do and that it was 270 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: creating a government which was legitimate. Now, the Federalist papers 271 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: originally were published primarily in two New York state newspapers, 272 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: the New York Packet and the Independent Journal. They were 273 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 1: then reprinted in other newspapers in New York and in 274 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: cities around the country. Then a bound edition was produced 275 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 1: with revisions and corrections by Hamilton, and that was published 276 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty eight. Another edition would be published some 277 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: thirty years later by Jacob Gideon in eighteen eighteen with 278 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: revisions and corrections by Madison, which was the first one 279 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,119 Speaker 1: that actually identified each essay by its author's name. So 280 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: think about that. You get this series of articles and 281 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: newspapers and then a book by Publius, and you end 282 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: up reading what the arguments are and you go, well, 283 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: you know they've really thought this through. And in fact, 284 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: if you take the time to read it, you'll realize 285 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,919 Speaker 1: that Hamilton was a genius. He and Madison are the 286 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: two primary writers, and their grasp of the most important 287 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: fundamentals of freedom is just astonishing. I think as long 288 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: as humans want to understand how to be free, the 289 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: Federalist papers will have a role to play and will 290 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 1: be a primary source document on the nature of freedom. Now, 291 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: while he's in the middle of creating a new country. 292 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: He also becomes a member of the board of trustees 293 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: of what used to be King's College when he went 294 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: to it, but now was Columbia College, which of course 295 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: has evolved into Columbia University. He helped develop a detailed 296 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,919 Speaker 1: outline of the new academic departments and faculty appointments. He 297 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:16,479 Speaker 1: assisted in analyzing their finances and budget allocations, and he 298 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 1: would work on the board at Columbia and serve Columbia 299 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: for the next twenty years until he died. Will people 300 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 1: always identify Jefferson with founding the University of Virginia. The 301 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: fact is Hamilton was on the board of Columbia College 302 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,880 Speaker 1: long before Jefferson got around to creating the University of Virginia. 303 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:39,680 Speaker 1: Hamilton's most famous role is first Secretary of the Treasury. 304 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 1: Washington brought him in immediately. There were two great important jobs. 305 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: I think the most important was Secretary of Treasury. The 306 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: second most important was the Secretary of State. Jefferson has 307 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,360 Speaker 1: made Secretary of State, Hamilton has made Secretary of the Treasury, 308 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 1: and they are amazingly different in their approach to things. 309 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: Jefferson as an intellectual, he spent a great deal of 310 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: time representing the United States. In France, he watched the 311 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,880 Speaker 1: early stages of the French Revolution. He was actually sympathetic 312 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 1: in the early days against the monarchy, even though the 313 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:16,280 Speaker 1: monarchy had supported the United States and its War of Independence. 314 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: And then I think Jefferson, like everybody else, was horrified 315 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 1: as the French Revolution went crazy and began guillotining people, 316 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: imposing a dictatorship of the left. But he came home 317 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: he was very concerned about a strong central government. This 318 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: is one of the first places where he and Hamilton 319 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: have a profound disagreement. Jefferson agrees to support the new 320 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: Constitution only if Madison will carry a series of amendments, 321 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 1: which became known as the Bill of Rights. And it's 322 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: important to recognize it. Where Hamilton is trying to strengthen 323 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:55,679 Speaker 1: the government, Jefferson is really worried that a strong government 324 00:19:55,760 --> 00:20:00,360 Speaker 1: will infringe on our liberties. By contrast, Hamilton had a 325 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:04,880 Speaker 1: more idealized vision that humans could have power without being 326 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: corrupted by it. I would say that Jefferson was almost 327 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: certainly more correct about humans than Hamilton, but Hamilton was 328 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 1: almost certainly more correct about the economy and about how 329 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 1: money worked. And that makes it one of the most 330 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,200 Speaker 1: amazing things in American history that you end up at 331 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 1: this magic moment. First of all with Washington, who is 332 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: the moral giant, the man of honor, the person everybody 333 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 1: relies on, the person on whose shoulders all of us stand, 334 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 1: the genuine father of his country. But Washington recognizes he 335 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,200 Speaker 1: doesn't know all these details. That's not his strength. He'd 336 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:42,679 Speaker 1: led a war for eight years. He was a great planner. 337 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,240 Speaker 1: He's actually a very innovative planner who bread an entire 338 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: new species of more powerful mule. For example, he worked 339 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: very assiduously at understanding the business of running the largest 340 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,400 Speaker 1: plantation in America. But Washington was a very good, very 341 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:03,440 Speaker 1: shrewd selector of people. He knew that Jefferson loved foreign affairs, 342 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,680 Speaker 1: and Jefferson understood Europe, and he knew that Hamilton could 343 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: master finance. At a time when we'd had enormous inflation, 344 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,560 Speaker 1: the money issued by the Continental Congress had collapsed in value. 345 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: There was a huge amount of debt held by the public, 346 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 1: there was a huge amount of debt held by the 347 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,159 Speaker 1: Dutch and others. And the question was, were we going 348 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: to dissolve into being incapable of paying our debts? Having 349 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: our currency collapse and not being acceptable as a financial 350 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:37,879 Speaker 1: risk around the world, Or were we going to in 351 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 1: fact fund the debt, pay it off, and pay off 352 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:46,400 Speaker 1: the debt that we recrued overseas? And along comes Hamilton. 353 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,159 Speaker 1: Hamilton is a student of Adam Smith, who published The 354 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: Wealth of Nations in seventeen seventy six as one of 355 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: the Great Magic Moments. The book, which most explains the 356 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: importance of freedom and markets, was published the same year 357 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,200 Speaker 1: as The Declaration of Independence, which explains the importance of 358 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,360 Speaker 1: political freedom, and the two go hand in hand, they 359 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: reinforce each other, and Hamilton understands what Smith is doing. 360 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 1: Smith's not a theoretician. He's not writing about theory. Smith 361 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,239 Speaker 1: is an observer of a world that is emerging, the 362 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,920 Speaker 1: world of manufacturing, the world of commerce, and he's describing 363 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: how it's working. When Smith has a section on the 364 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: needle factory and how efficient it is and how productive 365 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: it is, it's because he's actually been in a needle 366 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: factory and washed at work. And so Hamilton comes along. 367 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: I remember now, he's been a lawyer, he's been an artilleryman, 368 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: he's been a personal aid to General Washington. He's become 369 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 1: a lawyer. Now he pivots and he becomes a financier, 370 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: and he's brilliant enough that he gets right to the 371 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:49,959 Speaker 1: heart of the matter. And there were twelve volumes of 372 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: Hamilton's personal papers. They were introduced by Henry Cabot Lodge, 373 00:22:55,040 --> 00:23:01,400 Speaker 1: who wrote this extraordinary explanation of Hamilton about eighteen and 374 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 1: Lodge says, Hamilton's genius was understanding facts, and he allowed 375 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:13,120 Speaker 1: facts to then develop theories. He didn't start with theories 376 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: and try to twist the facts. And so Hamilton looked 377 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,400 Speaker 1: at if you want a healthy country, and you want 378 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,719 Speaker 1: to be able to have a sound credit, and in 379 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: a crisis, you want to be able to borrow money 380 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: from the Dutch and others, what do you have to 381 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:29,000 Speaker 1: do And he said, well, first of all, you have 382 00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,240 Speaker 1: to acknowledge all of the debts coming out of the 383 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,920 Speaker 1: Continental Congress during the war. Second, you have to acknowledge 384 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: all the debts that you signed your name for in 385 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,439 Speaker 1: terms of the Dutch and others. And then you have 386 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: to build an ability to gradually pay him off. And 387 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,199 Speaker 1: you did that by always running a small surplus and 388 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,200 Speaker 1: taking that small surplus and what was called a sinking fund, 389 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:53,399 Speaker 1: and paying down the debt. Now, Hamilton also had the 390 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: advantage of studying what William Pitt the Younger had done 391 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,440 Speaker 1: in Great Britain in the seventeen eighties, so he knew 392 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:03,239 Speaker 1: this could work. His problem was how do you get 393 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: it through a Congress, which isn't all that excited about, 394 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: first of all, the domestic debt, because what had happened 395 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,120 Speaker 1: was a lot of the veterans who'd earned these IOUs 396 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,480 Speaker 1: had sold them out of despair. So you had speculators, 397 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,200 Speaker 1: many of them in New York and Massachusetts, who had 398 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: gone across the South, buying up these IOUs sometimes at 399 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: ten or fifteen cents on the dollar. And now if 400 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: you're going to actually pay them off, that means that 401 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,360 Speaker 1: the veteran's not going to get very much, but all 402 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,439 Speaker 1: these speculators are going to get rich. Similarly, in a 403 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 1: Great American tradition, Congress wasn't all that excited about raising 404 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 1: hard taxes from its own people in order to ship 405 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,080 Speaker 1: the money to the Dutch who had loaned us the 406 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: money with which we fought the war. So Hamilton had 407 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: to put together a political movement that would be in 408 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: favor of a national economy, be in favor of what 409 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: we would do call sound money. And he started by 410 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: writing a report on the public credit, which is an 411 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: amazing document. It's probably as good an introduction to thinking 412 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 1: about finance as anybody ever has. He followed it up 413 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: about a year later by writing a report on manufactures, 414 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: which is the best document ever written on how a 415 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: country can go about creating a strong manufacturing base. It's 416 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: one which, by the way, modern liberal economists hate because 417 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:33,760 Speaker 1: it argues for focusing on America first and using tariffs 418 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: and other things to protect American jobs. Because if you 419 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,400 Speaker 1: had a purely free trade environment in the seventeen nineties, 420 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 1: the British were so much more advanced than we were, 421 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 1: they would have wiped out all of our industries. And 422 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: so Hamilton, in a very practical way, says that's not 423 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 1: going to work. The way you have to do is 424 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 1: find a way to grow American jobs with American manufacturing, 425 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: and then pay off the debt from this growing economy. 426 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: He also proposed that there'd be a national bank, something 427 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: he'd talked about a decade earlier, and that the bank 428 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: would be independent from the government, but the government would 429 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: own twenty percent of the bank stock. Now potentially he 430 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,639 Speaker 1: could get it through the Congress. There were some people 431 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: who argued that the Constitution does not give them the 432 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,119 Speaker 1: power to establish a national bank. This was Jefferson's position, 433 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: but Washington stepped in and said, well, the Constitution can 434 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: be loosely interpreted, and he approved Hamilton's plan. So, with 435 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,840 Speaker 1: Hamilton and Washington both in favor of the national bank, 436 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: it got created. Hamilton then turned his attention to establishing 437 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,879 Speaker 1: a national currency, because again, remember up to this point, 438 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:43,880 Speaker 1: you have all these states producing money, much as the 439 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: Scottish banks had each been producing their own money, and 440 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 1: you had this extraordinarily weak and frankly useless money that 441 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: the Continental Congress had created. So he establishes a national 442 00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,680 Speaker 1: mint and begins to put together with the Midt Act 443 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:05,240 Speaker 1: of seventeen ninety two, creating a national currency. That led 444 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: to a fundamental split. There was a Federalist party which 445 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: was deeply committed to the Constitution, deeply committed to a 446 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:41,480 Speaker 1: national economy, in many ways biased in favor of New 447 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,879 Speaker 1: England and New York and to some extent Pennsylvania. And 448 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,120 Speaker 1: then there was a Democratic Republican Party, which was really 449 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: the anti federalist and that was created by Jefferson and Madison. 450 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:54,120 Speaker 1: It used to be said in John F. Kennedy used 451 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: to use this line that Jefferson and Madison went to 452 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: New York butterfly collecting, happened to run into Aerin Burr, 453 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: who ran the political machine in New York, and the 454 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,439 Speaker 1: three of them happened to create the Democratic Republican Party 455 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:10,000 Speaker 1: while they were butterfly collecting. The butterfly collecting, I think 456 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: never actually happened, but was the cover for their trip. 457 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 1: Well to show you how successful Jefferson was as a politician. 458 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:22,120 Speaker 1: The Federalist Party basically disappears by around eighteen twelve, and 459 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: the Democratic Republican Party evolves into the Democratic Party, and 460 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:30,200 Speaker 1: it is today the longest surviving political party in the world. 461 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: It has an amazing capacity for adapting and mutating and evolving, 462 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 1: an enormous tenacity of survival. But Hamilton was the leader 463 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: of the Federalist Party, and Hamilton has created an economic 464 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: system heavily favoring the cities, heavily favoring manufacturing. Remember, if 465 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:56,719 Speaker 1: you're a farmer in the South, in particular, you are 466 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: not all that happy to have manufacturing protected, because that 467 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: raises the price of what you pay for so there's 468 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: a certain bias in favor of lower tariffs and agricultural 469 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,480 Speaker 1: areas and higher tariffs and manufacturing areas. The Federalist Party 470 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: represented the manufacturing side. Now at the same time, in 471 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,280 Speaker 1: order to get all of this done, they had to 472 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 1: find some ability to have a mutual agreement. And the 473 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: pact they created with a great deal of negotiating, was 474 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:34,479 Speaker 1: a dinner that Madison and Jefferson had with Hamilton. At 475 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: the time, the government had moved initially to New York, 476 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 1: then had moved to Philadelphia. The Southerners really wanted the 477 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: government to be between Virginia and Maryland. The Northerners didn't 478 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: particularly want it to go that far south, but the 479 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:51,400 Speaker 1: Southerners didn't particularly want to follow Hamilton's financial plans, and 480 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: so they cut a deal. Again less than about the 481 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: complexities of history. They negotiated for several months. They finally 482 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: thought they had a deal, and they sat down, had 483 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: dinner and looked at each other. Now, remember by this 484 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 1: stage they're both still in Washington's cabinet. Jefferson is still 485 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 1: the Secretary of State, Hamilton's still the Secuty of the Treasury. 486 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: Madison is in the Congress, but he's Jefferson's closest ally 487 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,680 Speaker 1: and also probably the leading figure in the Congress. They're 488 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:25,840 Speaker 1: both financing newspapers. I mean, Jefferson's subsidizing a newspaper whose 489 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,600 Speaker 1: job it is to attack Hamilton. Hamilton is subsidizing a 490 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 1: newspaper whose job it is to attack Jefferson. And they 491 00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: all know this. It's a very small town, but they 492 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,880 Speaker 1: have this bigger problem. They've got to find a way 493 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,520 Speaker 1: to create a sound currency, to create a sound economic policy, 494 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: and they need a place to put the government. And 495 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: so finally they agree. Jefferson gets the capital, Washington, d c. 496 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: Between Virginia and Maryland, and Hamilton gets his economic policies, 497 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: and with that you have the birth of the modern 498 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: American system. Now in the middle of all that, Washington leaves, 499 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:09,280 Speaker 1: and his successor was his vice president. Partially, I think 500 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: as a function of geographic equity, because Washington was from 501 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,880 Speaker 1: Virginia and John Adams is from Massachusetts. So again it's 502 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: a step towards binding the country together. However, the Federalist Party, 503 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: which had been largely created by Hamilton, who had in fact, 504 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,760 Speaker 1: as a part of that process, created all sorts of 505 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,040 Speaker 1: mechanisms of propaganda had built a political machine, but he 506 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: and Adams had a big falling out, and as a result, 507 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: Hamilton was very bitter about Adams. Adams found himself being undermined, 508 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: and in seventeen ninety six he had replaced Washington because 509 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 1: he had been vice president. By eighteen hundred, he has 510 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 1: lost so much popularity that he loses to Thomas Jefferson 511 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: in what in some ways is the first modern example 512 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 1: of a genuine opposition party peacefully taking power. Jefferson becomes president. 513 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 1: Hamilton is now basically out of power. The Federalists are 514 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 1: in fact declining rapidly, and Hamilton goes back to New 515 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: York to make money and begins to make a lot 516 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: of money. He founds the New York Evening Post and 517 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,240 Speaker 1: this becomes the New York Post, a New York Post 518 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:30,160 Speaker 1: found in eighteen oh one oldest continuous newspaper in the 519 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 1: United States still publishing, and it is the fourth largest 520 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:39,520 Speaker 1: newspaper in America. Founded by Alexander Hamilton, who on the 521 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: very first day had a statement of principles which was 522 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,719 Speaker 1: co authored by the editor William Coleman and Alexander Hamilton. 523 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: It says, quote the design of this paper is to 524 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 1: diffuse among the people correct information on all interesting subjects, 525 00:32:55,840 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 1: to inculcate just principles in religion, morals, and politics, and 526 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: to cultivate a taste for sound literature. Hamilton at this 527 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 1: stage is successful, has been a national figure, has helped 528 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 1: invent the modern American system, and probably could have lived 529 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:20,720 Speaker 1: a very long life except for the tragedy that Hamilton 530 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: tended to inspire hatred. Jefferson had people who disliked him, 531 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: but generally they didn't hate him Hamilton, partly, I think, 532 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: because he was so smart and he was so aggressive, 533 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 1: he was so arrogant, that people who couldn't compete with 534 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:39,720 Speaker 1: him intellectually just burned with hatred. Tragically, for him, his 535 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: son was killed in a duel in eighteen oh one 536 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:48,440 Speaker 1: defending his father's honor, and then Hamilton gets crosswise of 537 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 1: Aaron b Now, Aaron Burr is a genuine scoundrel, a 538 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:55,560 Speaker 1: truly bad man. He'd been the boss of New York. 539 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 1: He'd helped Jefferson and Madison create the Democratic Party. But 540 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,600 Speaker 1: it was typical how bad he was that when he 541 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,760 Speaker 1: and Jefferson both agreed to run Jefferson for president, Burr 542 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:07,560 Speaker 1: for vice president. Nobody had thought through that. The original 543 00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: constitution didn't provide for any way to tell who was 544 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,959 Speaker 1: running for president who was not, and it was all 545 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: done based on the number of electoral votes you got. 546 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:21,960 Speaker 1: I think the theory in the only days being that 547 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 1: whoever came in first would be president, whoever came in 548 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,360 Speaker 1: second would be vice president, which is what had happened 549 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety six when Adams became president and Jefferson 550 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 1: became vice president. But in eighteen hundred, in a truly 551 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 1: weird moment, Burr and Jefferson were tied. Now everybody knew 552 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,520 Speaker 1: Burr was supposed to be the vice president, but Burr 553 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 1: saw an opportunity, so he tried to become president. He 554 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:53,480 Speaker 1: was out maneuvered Hamilton spoke out against him, further increasing 555 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:57,280 Speaker 1: how much Burr disliked Hamilton. Jefferson gets elected, Burr becomes 556 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: vice president. He then goes back to New York, runs 557 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:05,279 Speaker 1: for governor and loses, with Hamilton once again speaking out 558 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:09,200 Speaker 1: against it. Hamilton is the person that Burr thinks has 559 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,440 Speaker 1: ruined his life, so Burr challenges him to a duel, 560 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,759 Speaker 1: and dueling back then was very common. It begins to 561 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,120 Speaker 1: disappear about forty years later, and one of the people 562 00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 1: who helped end dueling was Abraham Lincoln. When he was 563 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: challenged to a duel, the person being challenged always gets 564 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,520 Speaker 1: to choose the weapons. Lincoln chose shotguns at three feet 565 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: and the other guy said, why that would be murdered. 566 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,799 Speaker 1: Lincoln said, right, you challenged me. You want to have 567 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,760 Speaker 1: a duel, so these shotguns at three feet. The guy said, okay, 568 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,080 Speaker 1: I didn't actually mean it, and the duel disappeared. But 569 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,440 Speaker 1: at seven am on July eleventh, eighteen oh four, in 570 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: Weehawk and New Jersey, a town where Hamilton's son had 571 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: already been killed in a duel three years earlier, Hamilton 572 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:56,040 Speaker 1: and Burr stood ten paces apart, announced they were ready, 573 00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 1: turned and fired. Hamilton missed, probably deliberately. Burr shot Hamilton 574 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:05,120 Speaker 1: just above his right hip, and the next day Hamilton 575 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 1: died in agony at forty nine years of age. Now 576 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: that of course sets up the drama which becomes the musical, 577 00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 1: and it's interesting in some ways, a little bit like 578 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 1: Lincoln being killed immediately after winning the war and the 579 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:24,800 Speaker 1: second inaugural, which then permanently placed Lincoln in the unique 580 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,360 Speaker 1: position of being a martyr to the country. Hamilton's death 581 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,279 Speaker 1: blocked him from any future involvement, so we have no idea. 582 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:33,360 Speaker 1: Since he was only forty nine, we have no idea 583 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:35,319 Speaker 1: what the next twenty or thirty years or forty years 584 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,839 Speaker 1: would have been like. But it also meant that for 585 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:42,440 Speaker 1: a while he sort of disappeared. It's one of the 586 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,920 Speaker 1: comments that Henry Cabot Lodge makes in his introduction to 587 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: Hamilton's twelve volumes. And that was unfortunate. I mean, the 588 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:53,879 Speaker 1: dominance of the Jeffersonians led to and remember that they 589 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: win with Jefferson, then they come back and they win 590 00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: with Madison, and then they come back and win again 591 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:04,640 Speaker 1: with Monroe. So you have a very long Virginia dynasty 592 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:07,680 Speaker 1: which had followed eight years of George Washington with only 593 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:11,960 Speaker 1: four years by Adams from Massachusetts. And in that process 594 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: Hamilton sort of ceases to be the brilliant financial revolutionary 595 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:21,680 Speaker 1: who had unified the country, the extraordinary propagandist who'd written 596 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:25,200 Speaker 1: the Federalist papers, the efficient staffer who'd helped George Washington 597 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:28,800 Speaker 1: win the Revolutionary War, and Hamilton just kind of faded 598 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 1: for a while. He then began to come back after 599 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:34,400 Speaker 1: the Civil War, as we became a much more unified 600 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:38,680 Speaker 1: national country and people thought in national terms. I think 601 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: Hamilton is an immortal. I think that what he did 602 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:48,680 Speaker 1: in creating the core system, funding the debt, creating the 603 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:51,520 Speaker 1: framework in which America could be accepted by other nations, 604 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,920 Speaker 1: establishing a national economy, creating a Bank of the United States, 605 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:00,720 Speaker 1: all of these things came together, combined with the genius 606 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:03,800 Speaker 1: of the Federalist papers, and I think that it's easy 607 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: to look back and forget that there was this relatively 608 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:13,680 Speaker 1: small handful of people Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton among 609 00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,200 Speaker 1: the key who changed the history of the world. They 610 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:19,560 Speaker 1: made it possible for us to forget the divine right 611 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:21,919 Speaker 1: of kings. They made it possible for us to come 612 00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:24,560 Speaker 1: to believe that we are truly all endowed by our 613 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 1: creator with certain unalienable rights. They made it possible for 614 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:31,720 Speaker 1: us to imagine that a continent wide country could govern itself, 615 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,799 Speaker 1: that the people of that country could in fact be 616 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:39,040 Speaker 1: in a position to have better lives, to create a nation, 617 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:43,280 Speaker 1: to develop a patriotism that transcended any of the normal 618 00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,040 Speaker 1: things which had split us apart. And I think as 619 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:48,160 Speaker 1: we go through our own travise, and we have our 620 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:51,480 Speaker 1: own difficulties of figuring out who we are and how 621 00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,880 Speaker 1: we're going to operate. It's useful to go back and 622 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 1: look at these folks and realize that every generation has 623 00:38:57,160 --> 00:38:59,960 Speaker 1: to find some people who have that kind of capacity, 624 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: and that Hamilton is certainly worthy of study as somebody 625 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:09,120 Speaker 1: who had a remarkable impact, born out of wedlock, an orphan, 626 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,960 Speaker 1: self educated, and in the end, one of the greatest 627 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:24,319 Speaker 1: of Americans. Thank you for listening to Founding Father's Week 628 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 1: on Newtsworld. You learn more about Alexander Hamilton on our 629 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:31,520 Speaker 1: show page at newtsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced by 630 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:36,440 Speaker 1: Gingrich three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey 631 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:40,680 Speaker 1: Sloan and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for 632 00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:45,319 Speaker 1: the show was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks the 633 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:48,719 Speaker 1: team at Gingrich three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, 634 00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,680 Speaker 1: I hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate 635 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,920 Speaker 1: us with five stars and give us a review so 636 00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:58,400 Speaker 1: others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners 637 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:02,879 Speaker 1: of Newtsworld consigner for free weekly columns at Ginrich three 638 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:08,160 Speaker 1: sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm new Genrich. This is Newsworld.