Show 4 + + 9 + + + + + + + + + + 4 + 4 + + + 1 + + + + + + 1 + 1 t + 4 + + lb TE HERALDS + ore Study Circle = + + Copyright 1 by Seymour Eton t Directed by Prof Seymour Eton I444444 + 4 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4444 44441 + i GREAT Ai4EBICAN STATE3MEN ACA COntributdrs to this course Profes SOl Albert ushnet Hart Professor John Bach McMaster MClaser Professor Charles n Smith Dr Frederick W Freerick Spells Professor Andrew C McLugh ln and others vm ALEXANDEB AMTLPOI AEXNE HTON BY WILLIS C WEST M A I JoyhoodEducat nTle svoluton InformatIon regarding the family Of Alexandr Hamilton 19 manger and tie statements are contradictory 1C1 I contemporaries he was commonly reputed re-puted oC illegitimate birth and John Adams refers to hInt In a letter to Jet ferson aathat bastard brat or a Srtch peddler He ias botn In the Vet Indies and hD mother seems to have been of French Hubucnot descent TI this parentage biographers are toni ot aslbl1 his youthful reclt and I the tropical passions and Celtic impetuosity impet-uosity or his later ear and surely to colonial Americans there mUIt have lme something exotic In thC social ease slender and vivacity of the dark erect eager youth with glowing eyes I and massive head who mere stranger though he wa3 began at 18 to play a stirring p3rt upon the turbuent stage of revolutIonary poltcs dad who while yet younger than the aVerage sophomore became Washln tons trusted cmE3ar upon critical missions In these plctnrefUe trait however wo must not lose sight of the cool pene trtng logic which after all was Ham i iltons most remarkable personal characteristic char-acteristic not oC his instincts for ncterlstc noJ strong goernent and for national strong which were to rank him among uni the constructive statesmen of America I At 16 with sufficient funds and good introductions young Hamilton was sent to New York to complete his ed cation With tireless application and caton fery energy he fitted for Kings col loge In n year and devoured the course afterward at n like rapid race until thecrlsls In politics drew him Into pubi i lie life in 1fl4 two yearn htI his I 11 J cl oh rival The war of his boyish wish I was coming and he took sides with l the fervid enthusiasm or his nature An Impromptu and strangely successful speech at a patriotic meeting In the field of the Now York suburbs first brought him into notice but he con more permanent nOtoriety bJ the newspapers I news-papers letters In which he entered the lists against the leading royal t talent of the colonyan agency then used by the ablestniCn to guide puble Opinion and a form of controversy In which Hamilton thtougout his ulfehad talCli perior Tempting inducements to change sidesa strong tribute to the boys powerwere steadfastly refused or course while at the same time Hamilton Ham-ilton showed his fine dIsdain or popu showe Ja favor by gallantly opposIng mob violence townrd the Tories with all the hatred of anarchy that was to mark 115 later career I As war clous thIckened he set himself him-self to study mltqr scIence and when Nets York rils d a company of artillery In 16 his proven fitnOsC seurel him the cotnmantl The ecelent d clplne or his company rare enough In the moblke continental army at that stage EdOl caught the eye oC Washington Washing-ton Hamilton had the perilous tak or guarding the rest In the masterly retreat from Long Island He distn guished himself at White Plains anti after the terrible campaign closed by Trenton anti Princeton he aCcepted an appoIntment upon Vashlngtons str while still a year under age Here his I whie sti a chIef regular work was the manage I mont of te Immense correspondence or the commanderInchle Hamions gay buoyant temper even In the gray winter at Valley Forge brought him I tile admiring frIendship or his associates associ-ates and especially or the foreign officers I of-ficers young an l old and his trenchant pen ound sse and Quick decision were highly valued by Washington One I would be glad to recount that Haml showed Ad ton In turn some generous mirton for the grave and stately sen eral who bore upon his shoulders the fate ot a continent but the cvldencel I Is lacking < Cons ratsmCgnict With AI I archThe Struggle For n I Stronger Government I I In the midt oC the war Hamilton had I met wooed and won n daughter or Philip wooe Immediately after Yorktown thc war nos plainly over declining with graceful dignity repeated offers of financial assistance from Gen Oers erl Schuyler he set himself to earn a livelihood for his wife anffbabe and I four month rapacious study admitted hIm 10 the New York bar where he nt I once rose to the highest eminence 1 An election to the d aJh1 congress or the confederation of 1782 and his ew I months futile battle there along with Madison against the inertia at he bulk or the members and the distressing con diton 0C the tImes Is memorable only eause this experience seems to have gone far toward establishing the deep distrust of Democracy and the ardent desire for n strong central government I which were to be the controlling ideas oC his subgequent public life I To appreciate this later work we must bear In mind certain facts not altogether alto-gether Pleasant r hr an Aerl n to contempLate Not merely was ourgQv ernment matke by political disinte sraton at home ana treated with deserved de-served contempt abroad Our whole socIety was equally disorgaqized rhe most vicIous results or the old colonial system had heed the fostering aonZ our people of a general indolence t dislike for business methods and an antagcnlsm to law mnnlete 11 unl vemsni J smuggling and In the refusal or juries to convict for such orenses The Ilast twenty years had tremendously augmented these evils The mob meth ods ot the ten years p rvolutfn I contelt however necessary would have d moralze any PEople Tp refuse reuse obedience to the courts to refuse to pay just debts to boycott officers ot the law to disgraCefully abuse them toat amid feather conEeatve citIzens who ventured to crltcse such proCeedings to terrorjze society through Us lawless clement In tavern committees and nocturnal visiatonsal this had been to no slight extent the evidence and concomitant of patriotism Then these regetable antisocial tendencies had bee Intenslfed ot course by the long war whichaside from the inevitable disintegrating Intuence or any successful success-ful rebellion however justhad rulneu all Industry and foded the confused country wit a worthless currency or course the rcltnlng hud to come Such cmdlton bring out In any so t i l r 1i I I r t I f j I ra ± u 1 ALEANLZR EAiIILTON I ciet a vast amount Of hurnan week ness and meanness and reckless at1flh I ness The account appearod n it mere I ly In the general and humIliating unwillingness un-willingness to pay thereally slight cost of our national independence and in the shameful neglect of the sufferIng army in army mutiny and in plans for a military dictatorship but also in Shay rebellion against the collectIon of debts and in the subsequent whisky rebellion amid Fries rebellion to preventshidht federal taxation if the revolution was to be proven worth the while the new republic must subdue at oace the an urchlO turbulence and reptidiation ha which its stormy birth had educated ii generStion This is the reaL meaning of the struggle for a new constitution The contest lasts through the organl zation of the new government in Wash ingtons administration and the hero of the twelvg critical years the victorious victor-ious lender of the forces of cmrderand honesty is Alexander Hamilton Until this time however brilliant his sericcs he had been but a lieutenant now he stands forth for his real life cork a statesmanapostle of energy and union It is true that his aristoCratic and monarchic tendencies hts dfotrust of the people intensified now by his con diet with popular prejudices were wholly wrong for Amcrica and hIs party which sharOd them wai soon properly punished by anmtihilaon But hits demand for strong governmcnt and for national unity was wholly right and was no indIspnsabhe to our Anion ca as Jeffersons democracy sas to be Wc could have spared neither of these great antagonists each of whom con tributod fundamental principles to our national life Hamiltons brief congressional expe rlcmrce aa followed by his courageous struggle In New York agaInst tile cruel and foolIsh persecution of the old by alistsin the course of which a ciub of opponents in a newspaper cdntrouersy Complimented him by a proposed plan to kill him oil by successtvely chahleng ing hijn to duelsand then by the opening open-ing of the contest for a constItuent convention S I The plan 50 natural to us was novel enough then As early as 17811 iii a private pri-vate letter Hamilton had suggeste f ° a rotlonai convention to forlfl L new con stitutloneven before the articieri of confederation had been ratifiedamid In 1783 itt his suggestion the New York lctislature recommended the plan to congress When Virginia finally recur Cd the germ of a convention at Annap oIls in 17S1 Hamilton was a dejevate from New York one of the five states represented and he drew the address of this meeting to congress and to the states which did resuit in the great Philadelphia convention the next year Intimately connected as Hamiltons name is with the constltutiou he took little part in the convention The vote of his colleague from hIs state was against any eXeutlte union and he himself on the other hand desired amore a-more aristocratic and consohldateduian than there was any chance of getting adopted In his one great speech he advocated as his own Ideal a president and senate for life and the reduction of the states to provinces by making the governors appointees of the central government and by placing in thegi an absolute veto upon all state legislatIon However unable to get what he wanted want-ed like a practical statesman he took cith ut sulking what he could get and threw all bin marielous energy intbhe contest for ratification The debt to him is for first securing from the New York lczislature a most reluctant rep reseatatiolt at PhIladelphia at all and then for his desperate victory inhe rbtifylng state convention Organizatloit of the Government The critical quesUons before the pi governWent were thosw of natiopal credjt and finance With his lnimue insight Hamilton had seized upon their coming Importance even during the revolution and had already studIed and written much upon them Fitly now Washington called hIm to the head of tbe treaaur svhigh he easily made th leading osttion in the goyernmeat The stor5r ofhts work here would be a history his-tory of Washingtons prendency The striking figure so justly applied to him smotetocitipf national se sources adabundantstrearns f IOV enue guehCferthtells ony a fmac tiorm of the truth The bewiideret Con grees wih adn able promptitude tUrnec1 tis tHe great secretary for guar estee and received front him in swift successIon report alter report front which came the fundIng system the revenue system thcr inklng fund sys tern national banking the currency the first statement of lntdtnai improVe meats anti tot te protective system ind a masa of other legislation in the succeeding yeats Economists of other schools will CritIcIse some of his views but ao One will deny that his plans however faulty did lift us front thu abyss of national shame and make us a pqwCrfbl and happy pesple presporonn at home and respected abroad Latex Life In 19i after the long and bitter quar cal with Jefferson both secretaries left the cabinet but Hamilton remained a closc unoffIcial adviser of that body The Iniminent prospect of war with Prance in 1T93 made him the real corn niander and organizer of the army un den the aged Washington and his plans for the conquest of Louisiana and Flor I idaan indication of a faith in our national na-tional expaiisioil rare In that dayal fords an Interesting point of sympathy between him and his rival Jefferson The blame for the schIsm of the feder ahists which tdllowd the clearing away Uf the war clouds must be shared between be-tween Hamilton and Adams and there were petty follieYs enough on both sides Hamilton redeemed his rare slip by his wiSe part iii helpIng to thwart the mad federalist plan of seating flun over Jefferson Ito 1301 and by casting his weIghty Voice against the secession plots of the desperate New England lenders In 1504 These Were his last public acts Though seetntl no remedy for victor Ions democracy In distinion he shared to the full the glooms of his federalist associates He seems to have conS dently anticipated the overthrow of thu COnritution by the Jeffersonians but to have looked fonivard hopefully to a civil war to restore it after a brief democratiC anarchy To keep himself availablett a military letider and savior sa-vior of society in that struggle was apparently hip reason for accepting Burrs challenge ti the duel which end edhi9bltc at 4S0ara of age tnversth of Minnesota |