WEBVTT - Alexander Hamilton: Most Influential American? 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.760 This episode of Stuff You Should Know is sponsored by Squarespace. 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:06.520 Whether you need a landing page, a beautiful gallery of 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:10.040 professional blogger, an online store, it's all possible with the 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:14.080 Squarespace website. Go to squarespace dot com and set your 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:19.000 website apart. Welcome to you Stuff you Should Know from 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:52.440 House Stuff Works dot com and New York Hey, and 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.560 welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:59.880 Chuck Bryant, Jerry's over there, and that was Lin Manuel 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:07.360 Miranda in the original Broadway show cast cats of Hamilton's 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.520 Oh Yeah, great song? Do you listen to that stuff? 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.080 Like Broadway Show sometimes recordings and stuffing. I don't necessarily 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:18.520 seek it out or whatever, but I'm not like turn 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.399 it off. Have you listen to Hamilton's I have not 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.399 heard a second of Hamilton's even still because that song 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:26.600 was put in in post production. I've still never heard 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:31.600 a second of Hamilton's. I've seen like video on mute, 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.520 but that's it. Well, it is no wonder that show 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.320 has become a runaway hit because of two things. One, 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.240 the music is great, and the book and is great, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.119 and it looks great. I've not seen it yet because 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.600 I'm not wealthy, man, don't you have to be? Yeah, 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:52.920 if you want to get a ticket to Hamilton's that's 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:57.280 sold out, Yeah, you gotta pay thousands of dollars. I 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:01.639 can't do it. Um. And the second reason is because 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:09.200 Alexander Hamilton is finally getting his due as perhaps the 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:15.640 most influential American in history. These are big words, buddy, Uh, 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:23.080 show me someone else, uh saying there haven't been influential Americans? 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.400 Would I think tops them all? Yeah? You know, I 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:32.200 can't disagree. I think you're absolutely right. Most controversial founding 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.840 father for sure, youngest founding father by far. Yeah, he's 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:40.240 an outsider. Wasn't even born in the United States, wasn't 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:44.440 even born in England. He was an immigrant bastard child, 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:50.520 which um yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a lot to 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.840 do with his, um how he turned out in life. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:56.720 Oh yeah, he had a chip on his shoulder, he 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.960 had well, yeah, you can put it that way. I 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.320 would put it like he had extra drive that a 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:06.440 lot of those like hoity toity blue blood aristocrats founding 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:10.480 fathers didn't have because they didn't need it. They had 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.359 a lot of money, they had a lot of opportunity. 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:17.480 This guy picked himself up from the bootstraps, like the 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:22.239 first American Horatio Alger. I think he thought he was 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:27.760 smarter than everyone else. He yes, I get that impression. 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.440 But the thing is he was right most of the time. 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.240 Well yeah, and if someone came out and disagreed with him, 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.840 he was not He wasn't a good politician. He was 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:42.240 not skilled at being deferential or I didn't know how 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.440 to bow, certainly didn't know how to curtsy. No, Like 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.160 he would come out and say, no, you're completely wrong 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.960 for these fourteen reasons, right, and you're ugly? That all 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.240 explain at length? Yeah, Um, he'd like poke them in 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.320 the belly, pull on their jowels a little bit to 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.880 tear their wig off. Yeah. I saw there's this really 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:09.600 great American Experience episode from Yeah. Did you notice there 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.560 were like some recognizable actors in there, Like one guy 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:15.560 was like I was like, I recognized that guy from 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:18.160 Fraser and the Wire. And ye, there were a few 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:24.320 das were played the recreated the roles of but not like, oh, 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.920 great actor, do you mind daigning to be in this 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.480 American Experience? It was like, hey, hungry actor, your agent 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.200 called us and we have a role for you, because 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.520 this is like back in the nineties seven. I looked 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:37.719 it up. Really good episode though, Yeah, and if you 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:39.760 look at the website for it you can tell it's 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:43.560 from sure, but it was great and in it one 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:47.760 of the historians put it pretty plainly, he was, uh, 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.040 excellent statesman, maybe one of the best United States has 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:55.640 ever had. Terrible politicians. One of the parts of being 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.000 a politician is um to have finesse. Again, one of 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.440 the historians called it an s Yeah, he had. He 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:03.599 didn't learn it. No one taught him that he was 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:10.200 orphaned at age what eleven, no? Thirteen? Possibly fifteen. There's 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.600 some dispute over really when he was born and if 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:14.640 he lied about his age. Well, yeah, I mean, let's 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.320 just go back to the to the Islands of the 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:23.960 Caribbean in seventeen fifty seven or seventeen fifty five. Is 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.800 that the two dates? Possibly? Yeah. If you look at 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.640 the official records in Nevis, which I did before this episode, 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.400 I went down there and uh, it's it has him 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.680 listed as having been born January eleventh, seventeen fifty five. 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:40.880 He always said January eleven, seventeen fifty seven. And there's 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:43.840 actually good reason why he would have fudged his name. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:48.039 We'll talk about that a minute. Oh, I'll talk about 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.920 that in forty eight seconds. So his father was a 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.400 Scottish merchant and his mother, her name was Rachel Fawcett. 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:59.239 She was an English French planter's daughter. Uh. He dad 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.560 moved the family to St. Croix and then left his family. 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:09.840 Mom died uh in seventy and um, it's interesting. I 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:15.120 was watching this great documentary on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:19.520 same thing by Peter Bogdanovitch, and they these music historians 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:23.919 make a point that there's something about a father who 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:28.280 rejects you or a mother who dies when you're young. 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.320 And they say, in the case of Tom Petty, he 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.320 had both. But they listed like a list of rock 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.320 stars like from Bono to Tom Petty, I can't remember 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.160 Jimi Hendrix were either rejected by their dads or mothers 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.760 died younger both, and they said they have something to prove. 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.720 And I was like, dude, that's Alexander Hamilton to a t. 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.880 He spent his whole life was something to prove. Live 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:53.560 Manuel Miranda just yeah, he's way ahead of us on this. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.360 But apparently we're the only podcast he does not listen to. 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:03.040 So yeah, or he politely ignored it. Come on, so um, 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.640 let's talk about though his his early life, his early situation. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.680 He finds himself an orphan, his father abandoned him, and 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:12.440 he never saw his father for the rest of his life. 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.200 And I was like boo, his right, Um, but I 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.120 saw elsewhere and I can't I couldn't find it again. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.840 But that that it was explained that his mother had 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.200 been married before, and even though she was divorced, she 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:29.480 was not capable legally of being married again, so her 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:33.679 husband or um Alexander's father left her in the family 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.480 to prevent her from being um accused of being a 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:41.760 big amist and possibly going to jail. So maybe that 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.320 was it. But I only saw that in one place. UM. 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.840 Most other people just say the father left in Alexander 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:50.800 never saw him again, and as as a result, he 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:57.040 was not able to inherit uh any estate with mother's estate. No, 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.560 but it would have been pretty helpful to have anything, 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.800 especially when you're thirteen s last fifteen uh and apparently 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.960 had a kind uncle who tried to help him out 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.640 and and secure the estate. But now it didn't happen. 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.680 It actually went to his mother's first husband. Yeah, and 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.640 he moved in with a cousin who then committed suicide. 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.880 And so he said, he hasn't had good experiences with 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.200 being taken care of. H left to his own devices. 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:26.560 He got a job working for Beachman and Krueger Mercantile. 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:31.640 And this dude, at fourteen was running a major company, 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.640 not just a major company, a major company on what, 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:38.160 until the last couple of decades had been the largest 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:46.000 income producing colony in in um the English Empire. Like 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.280 it made more money from tobacco and then sugar than 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.400 the other thirteen colonies combined. And it was just this 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.880 little tiny speck of an island, and this kid is 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.320 running the major company on this major island. So it 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.320 was it was even bigger than it seems at first blush. Yeah, 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.600 he was a child prodigy, he wrote in a newspaper 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:10.240 articles at fourteen, he wrote poetry, published poetry. And uh, 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.520 it was clear to everyone at the company. They were like, 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:16.320 this kid, he's he's going places, So let's start a 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.840 fund to get him out of here and get him 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:24.400 to New York City. Yeah, because uh, in New York 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:30.160 you can be a new man. Yes, I'm Broadway. That's 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:32.599 from Hamilton's. Okay, I'm gonna drop those in. You're not 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:37.040 gonna know. I'll struggle to make sense of them to 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.680 keep it up. Uh, So they did, so they raised 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:44.200 some money and um he went to King's College, which 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:47.360 later became Columbia University. Yeah, and for those of us 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.800 who saw our UK tour, they remember that Alexander Hamilton's 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.800 shows up at Columbia University to plead with the rioting crowd. 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.120 Remember apparently he did that a couple of times. Yeah, 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:58.920 I noticed that too in that documentary. Yeah, it was 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.480 like he's a lot of time arguing with like crowds 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:06.200 with torches and pitchforks on the steps of Columbia University. 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:08.840 All right, So it goes to King's College's doing his 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:13.480 studying there. Uh. He really makes a name for himself 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.640 in writing, uh political pamphlets, which was kind of the 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.760 thing to do. And of that day, there weren't magazines, 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.480 there wasn't Tiger Beat no. So, like, if you wanted 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.920 to feel a lot to say, he didn't have squarespace, right, 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:34.040 so he would yeah you like that, So he would write, Uh, 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.480 he would write political pamphlets and they became very well known. Yeah. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:43.199 He um was railing against the British monarchy, and it 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.400 was very much in favor of the loose confederation that 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:51.840 the colonies had had um created amongst themselves, in their um, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.600 their joints suffering at the hands of the British colonies, 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.600 which were like or the British crown, which was actively 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.760 trying to punish them um and keep them in line 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.920 through like taxation and representation, Um. All the Asians that 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:11.720 you wouldn't like, right and um. Alexander Hamilton definitely saw 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:16.720 this as a potential for um revolution to occur. And 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.760 he actually wrote in his journal as a younger man, 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:24.439 back when he's like twelve, thirteen fourteen, that he wished 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.800 there a war would happen so that he could prove himself. 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.400 It would be a great opportunity to prove himself. And 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.840 he probably saw that opportunity and this unrest that was 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.600 going on that was being aroused in the colonies, and 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.520 he was fanning the flames of it. Yeah. And he 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.760 also uh, and this is sort of a side note, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.760 he was the most consistent abolitionist. Oh. Yeah, of all 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.520 the founding fathers throughout his entire life. Uh, and for 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.280 very well, for two reasons. One he thought it was wrong, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.840 but very practically he thought, you know, some of these 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.400 people might be able to do great things for this 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.440 country and they're not allowed to. And he was like, 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:03.880 that just doesn't make sense to not let people live 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.920 up to their potential. But to make America better, Yeah, 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:12.400 but at least equally is important. He personally found it 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.760 abhorrent and despicable, Like he was against slavery from the 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.600 time he was a kid. Amazing. Yeah, well he saw 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.240 at firsthand too when his family moved to St. Croix 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.440 Um they plantations here. Yeah, he he was, he was, 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.960 he encountered it, and it had a real impact on him. Alright. 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:35.079 So seventeen seventy six, the Revolution is underway. He joins 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.880 as a captain and the Continental Army. And I was 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:44.040 amazed that this little factoid from the PBS saying his 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.760 artillery unit that he founded is still around today. It's 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.600 the only surviving army unit from the Revolutionary War. Wow, 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:53.880 that's pretty amazing. Yeah, he found it a lot of 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:58.280 stuff that's still around today. Well, in our Customs episode, 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.240 we touched on that a little bit in Our Lighthouses episode. 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.400 He popped up in that too. Yeah, he's all over 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.160 the place. No one that his fingers in a lot 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:10.040 of pots. So he fought like a champ in the 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:14.760 Revolutionary War and impressed Um George Washington, who was pretty 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.880 important guy at the time, and he said, you know what, 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:21.200 I like the cut of your jib, kid, why don't 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.280 you join me? And he surrounded himself with these young 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.200 men who as his team and his family. He called 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.439 them that he thought, were, you know, bright guys in 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.400 in the future of this country. And he said, you 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.760 will be my aide de camp, you'll be my assistant. 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:39.360 And I got a lot of good dudes around me. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:41.440 They're great military minds. But you're the only one that 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:45.280 can write like you can write like a mug. He did. 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:49.360 He said that you can write like a mug. Is 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.120 that in the Broadway show? It should be? I honestly 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.120 don't know it could be. It sounds like that could 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:58.320 definitely be in a Hamilton rap. So I said, what's 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.840 your name, man, and he said, Alexander Hamilton's Okay, that's 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.240 from the show too. Okay, how about this indicate it's 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.000 from the show by making jazz hands. Okay, you know what, 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.640 that's that's the last of him. Okay, so well, if 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:15.120 you want to keep it up, that's fine. But I'll 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.160 say everyone who hasn't seen the show chucks making jazz hands, alright, 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.880 and then Jerry will ring a bell post production. Okay, alright, 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:28.720 So he's Washington's assistant. Yeah, and he actually um one 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.560 of the Again, the historians on that American experience said, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:37.120 if you look at Washington's um writing at the Times Correspondence, um, 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.600 his uh diaries, I guess probably not his diary. I 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.200 don't think he had him write his diaries. Well, his 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:47.600 speeches and things, Um, the best stuff is just obviously 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:51.080 written by Alexander Hamilton's like indisputably so, right, But it 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:54.120 made Washington look really good, and Washington was eternally grateful, 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:58.080 and he he also had aum definite soft spot for 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:02.080 Alexander Hamilton's person and and will for the rest of 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.280 his life for sure, stands by him through thick and thin. Yeah, 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.680 and um, our own article does a good job of 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:10.720 pointing out that he wasn't just some kid that was 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:12.880 like yes, sir or anything you say, Like from the 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.200 very beginning He's like, you know what, this army is 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:20.320 messed up, is disorganized. We need funding. Uh and like 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.440 there's a this is a big mess to keep killing people. 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.240 Yeah and what And Washington was like I like hearing this. 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:30.960 You know he didn't he didn't want a yes man around. Yeah, 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.760 well maybe a couple right, he needs a couple of 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:39.560 lickspittles to keep his boots clean. Lickspittle Mr Burns used 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:46.720 in One Love that um so Washington, Uh, I think 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:50.680 actually Hamilton's was a victim of his own success. Like 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.320 Washington liked having him around in this position as an 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:57.400 aide to Camp so much that um Hamilton is like, Okay, 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.840 let's let's keep rising through the ranks. And when I 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.040 really get out there and fight. And he really railed 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.960 against his position for a while and finally Washington was like, okay, fine, fine, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.080 go get out there and fight. And he did. Actually, 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:15.560 he really um honored himself on the battlefield, particularly in Yorktown. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:20.760 He led his regiment into battle. Let it not like 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.120 I'm on horseback back here, but I'm leading you. Like 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.520 he was the first guy breaking through the lines and 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:30.200 jumping on like into the trenches with the British and 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:36.360 fighting them hand to hand. Yeah, at least so he 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:38.560 definitely put his money where his mouth was. Like. He 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.400 wasn't like, yeah, I'm gonna get out there and fight, 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:43.280 and then when the time came, he was like, I'm 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.920 gonna hang back here. He got out there and fought. 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:48.560 I get the impression that he ran through more than 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.000 one person. Yeah, and he was a little dude too. 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.920 He wasn't you know. He wasn't trying to think of 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:59.000 some big tough guy and the rock. He wasn't the rock. 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:04.560 He was Kevin Hart. Who's that? Uh you know who 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:08.560 Kevin Hart is? Oh? Kevin hart Ish. I thought you're 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.520 saying Kevin Hardish, Like that's a person. He's bigger than 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:18.040 Kevin Hart. But yeah, Kevin Harve. Uh how big was 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:22.440 Alexander Hamilton's seven? Oh? Well he's wave breaker. Well those 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:26.760 three inches matter when you're five. But Washington, he was 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.720 a giant. He was a big dude, wn't he? Uh? 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:35.560 So the war is over. That's the quickest description of 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:41.080 the Revolutionary War ever. Who won the US one or America? 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:45.240 I guess? And um it's interesting too that documentary pointed 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:47.639 out at one point they were like I don't think 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:49.679 anyone gave much thought to what literally they were going 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:51.920 to do. The day after the war, they were so 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.560 like gung ho for it, and then afterward they're like, whoa, 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.400 we're in bad shape, Like we're a bankrupt nation. Right. 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.520 But even more than that, there the the people who 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.760 were running the show. We're pretty content with the idea 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:12.840 of like their state being an independent country. Now. Thought 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:16.520 like Thomas Jefferson referred when when when he called, when 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.359 he said my country, he was talking about Virginia, and 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.879 he was he was basically of a similar mind to 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.680 just about everyone else we would consider a founding father. 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.200 There weren't too many people who were thinking like Alexander 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:32.760 Hamilton's whose idea was, hey, let's let's get together. There's 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.520 gonna be a lot more peace, a lot less in fighting, 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.840 and we're gonna have a lot less headaches with things 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.640 like multiple currencies and all that stuff. Let's just come 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.760 together and create a centralized federal government. And all these 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:47.159 guys are like, well, who are you nuts? A centralized 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.920 federal government? It sounds an awful lot like a monarchy. 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.520 And we just threw those cats off. Why would we 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.280 want to go back to it. So Hamilton's saw very 0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:01.199 clearly that a central, very powerful federal government that was 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:07.280 in control and as an umbrella over the thirteen colonies, 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.720 turning them into states assembled under this federal government was 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:15.720 the best way to help this. The these colonies turned states, 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:20.200 and that now turned country to mature to keep going 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:23.560 to progress forward. But he had a real uphill battle 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.800 to climb um because there was nobody really who saw 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.520 things that way. Yeah, and uh, he knew that the 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.480 only way to do this was to have a document 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:39.840 behind him pushing him along, and he did. Uh he 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:42.760 saw the U. S Constitution is a great chance to 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.919 do so. And uh, we'll talk about that right after this. 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:11.400 So Chuck Um, A lot of people don't really recognize 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:15.040 that the Revolutionary War ends in seventeen seventy six, but 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:19.080 it wasn't until seventeen eighty seven that the Constitution is written, right, 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:22.400 and in between that time people were just kind of like, okay, 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.040 what do we do? There was the Articles of Confederation. Yeah, 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:29.639 they were great, Well, they weren't so great. Actually I 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.479 thought they were pretty great. Okay, well, the founding fathers 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.439 thought they stunk. And actually they showed up in I 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:41.720 think Philadelphia, and UM we're called there to say, hey, uh, 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.600 let's figure something out about this Articles of Confederation. It's 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:49.920 that the the country's bankrupt. We're going nowhere. Um, everybody's 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.720 hooked on drugs. We don't know what's going on. Everybody, 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.479 come and let's figure out how to make the Articles 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:59.359 of Confederation better. And these founding fathers um all showed up, 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:02.080 these delegates, it's including Alexander Hamilton, who was a delegate 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.080 from New York, and they really looked at it and 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:08.199 they're like, this is terrible. Let's just start over. So 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.520 they crumple it up, through it over their shoulder, pull 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:14.760 out a fresh piece of paper, said, okay, debate, that's right, 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.560 And through that debate, the Constitution of the United States 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.439 was drafted. Uh. Hamilton's actually was not there a lot 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:27.800 for the debates because of business and UM. So he 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:32.600 wasn't actually a key member in drafting the Constitution. What 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:35.720 he was um and of course the Constitution was the 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:39.720 document that that indicated a strong central government and a 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:43.879 powerful president. Uh. He came into into play when it 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.240 came time for for saying this is the document we're 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:49.960 gonna go forward with. Forgetting it ratified. Um, they needed 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.440 nine and thirteen states for it to pass, and there 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:55.760 was a lot of strong opposition, like you were saying, 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:57.800 you know, we were we just got out from under 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:00.239 Britain's rule. Why are we gonna draft this thing with 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.879 like these taxes and the central government and we like 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:06.360 all of our little small states making all their own 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:11.280 decisions and um. It turned out to be a big 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:15.560 deal when he and uh John j and James Madison 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:20.600 wrote the Federalist papers, forming the Federalist Party and really 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:24.600 coming out hard like have you ever read like even 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:30.320 the first Federalist paper? Uh, No, it's amazing. And Hamilton's 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:33.800 wrote that the introduction and in it he basically just says, 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.160 here are all your questions answered, and here's why you're 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:41.400 all wrong, and here's why this is the way forward, 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:44.240 no questions asked, and I know in it like he 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:47.720 he basically he and Jay and Madison used it as 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:53.080 an opportunity to address every single um opposition to the 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.640 Constitution and the adoption of it, including things like, um, 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:00.080 well you know we have a court to inter with 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:02.920 the law so that it's constantly evolving and that kind 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:05.560 of thing. Um, and just explaining why we needed a 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:09.040 powerful executive, but that it would be um balanced out 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.480 by these other branches of government as well. Um. And 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:15.160 it worked. These things were getting published in the papers 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:18.240 and and it helped really change the minds of a 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:21.480 lot of people. Yeah. And remarkably, the Federalist Papers have 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:23.440 been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:27.240 more than any other document, including the Constitution. It's pretty 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:29.159 pretty amazing. Yeah, it really is, because I mean, if 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:31.960 you think about it's just these guys are saying, here 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:36.200 are here's our opinion of the constitution, uh, and why 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:40.000 it works. And the Supreme Court says, we're with you, buddy, 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.000 that's right. Uh. So he got married along the way 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:47.560 in seventy two, uh, a woman named Elizabeth uh Schyler 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:56.520 Skyler Skyler. Yeah, and um, a big thing happened in sight. 0:23:56.560 --> 0:23:59.760 They had the first presidential election, Washington one, and as 0:23:59.840 --> 0:24:05.760 his confidant, he appointed quickly Hamilton's as his secretary of Treasury. Uh, 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:09.600 probably the most powerful cabinet position of all. Yeah. And 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:13.480 like we said, we were nearly bankrupt from the Revolutionary War. 0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:17.320 We borrowed money from everyone from like they owed money 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:20.280 to the army, they owed money to individuals who supported 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:23.960 the army. They would just go take equipment and money 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:26.640 and say here, we're gonna pay you back one day. 0:24:26.960 --> 0:24:29.760 And they literally owed money to American citizens to the 0:24:29.760 --> 0:24:31.520 point where they couldn't pay it back. And it was 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:35.040 a disorganized mass of records. And Hamilton's got in there 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:38.119 and most people would have shied away, and he was like, 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:41.359 this is great. I can really get in here and 0:24:41.680 --> 0:24:44.000 do what I do best, which is get this on 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:46.520 the right track. Yeah, he's a He's a big picture 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:49.000 guy if there was ever a big picture guy. And 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:54.399 UM historians now look back at Hamilton's and say he 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:58.960 They actually say the man who made America. It's one 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:04.120 of his his UM nicknames, right, which is that's not 0:25:04.160 --> 0:25:07.800 for nothing saying something like that. UM. He had a 0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:13.159 vision to where the strong central government could create the UM, 0:25:13.240 --> 0:25:18.200 the nation that these states comprised or composed UM. And 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:21.400 it was based on four points. Right. One was tariffs, 0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:25.480 which we talked about in the Customs episode. UM one 0:25:25.680 --> 0:25:31.600 was a central bank and UH investment in infrastructure. And 0:25:31.600 --> 0:25:35.240