Hamilton, Alexander
Hamilton, Alexander
Alexander Hamilton (1757?-1804) was born on the West Indian island of Nevis and therefore lacked the attachment to state or region which characterized many eighteenth–century Americans. His experiences during the American Revolution and the decade of government under the Articles of Confederation reinforced his belief that American greatness must be based on a strong and energetic central government.
In 1777, five years after his arrival in the United States, he was appointed aide–de–camp to General George Washington. Viewing the Revolution from the vantage point of Washington’s headquarters, he was deeply concerned about the state rivalries, the weakness of the Continental Congress, and the absence of national sentiment that impeded the American war effort. In the years that followed independence, Hamilton worked steadily to breathe life into the moribund Confederation government. As a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1782–1783, he worked closely with such like–minded nationalists as James Madison to invest the Con federation with powers, in his phrase, “adequate to the exigencies of the Union” (Papers, vol. 3, p. 689). Despairing of this effort, he became one of the prime promoters of the Constitutional Convention and served as a delegate from the state of New York.
Political ideas. Hamilton’s proposals for a gov ernment modeled closely on the British system were unacceptable to most members of the convention, but he labored industriously to have them “tone their Government as high as possible” (ibid., vol. 4, p. 218). Although ultimately “no man’s ideas were more remote from the plan” (ibid., vol. 4, p. 253), Hamilton signed the constitution and was one of its most eloquent and persuasive de fenders. At the New York State ratifying convention, which met in June 1788, Hamilton combined the gifts of political theorist and practical politician to lead a reluctant New York into the federal fold.
Hamilton’s greatest contribution to American political thought was The Federalist (1788), a brilliant defense of the convention’s work, which he, John Jay, and James Madison wrote to persuade the people of New York to adopt the proposed con stitution. Hamilton wrote more than half of the 85 essays. Some of the issues he discussed at length are no longer important (the dangers of a standing army, for example), but his analysis of a viable federalism as a system in which laws operate di rectly upon individuals rather than upon states, his exposition of the powers of the presidency, and his arguments for the necessity of judicial review in a federal system remain among the most astute com ments on American government.
Hamilton was not an original political thinker of the stature of Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rous seau, or Hegel. His particular genius lay in the bold and imaginative way in which he adapted and ap plied the ideas of others to the needs of an infant republic. He had read many of the political philos ophers of the eighteenth century, among them Adam Smith, David Hume, and Sir William Blackstone, and he was familiar with the work of such European statesmen as William Pitt and Jacques Necker. But he learned the most from his experience in the American Revolution, the Continental Congress, and the New York legislature, namely, that a strong government is necessary to promote national prosperity and safeguard personal liberty. Like other Federalists, Hamilton believed that liberty must be predicated on order and that a just and enduring government must be one of laws and not of men. Far from subscribing to Thomas Jefferson’s dictum that that government is best which governs least, he believed that government to be best which, possessing ample powers, uses them energetically to achieve national goals. In any discussion of the state, his favorite word was “energy.” As Clinton Rossiter has remarked, to Hamilton “energy was the essence of good government, im potence the sign of bad: here was one obsessive principle of his political science that set him off sharply from the progressives of his time” (1964, p. 163).
The belief that Hamilton favored a government of the rich, the well–born, and the able, and that he despised democracy, has long been a commonplace of American history. That he wished to win over the wealthy to the support of the Union is indisputable; that the purpose of his policies was to en rich any particular class is debatable. The object of his statecraft, as he said, was “. . .a great Federal Republic, closely linked in the pursuit of a common interest, tranquil and prosperous at home, respectable abroad . . .” (Papers, vol. 3, p. 106). That he distrusted democracy is also certain. But by democracy he meant a government that is directly responsive to the peoples’ whims or moods, as in ancient Athens or in eighteenth–century New England towns. He was, on the other hand, “affectionately attached to the republican theory” (Works, vol. 9, p. 533), by which he meant democracy modified by a system of checks and balances such as those imposed by the U.S. constitution.
Economic ideas. By common consent Hamilton is ranked as the most forceful and influential secre tary of the treasury in U.S. history. He was appointed to that post on September 11, 1789, and within the brief span of two and a half years (1790–1792) submitted to Congress a number of reports that are among the greatest state papers in U.S. history. The first and most controversial of these papers was the “First Report on the Public Credit” ([1790], 1934, pp. 1-50), in which he called for the payment in full of the foreign and domestic debt contracted by the Confederation gov ernment; for the assumption of the debts incurred by the separate states in the prosecution of the War of Independence; and for a system of finance and taxation adequate to meet these new national obligations. Hamilton’s report was based on the assumption that national honor, strength, and pros perity are inseparably connected with the establishment of sound national credit. After six months of acrimonious debate and a famous compromise in which Hamilton gave his support to a site on the Potomac River as the national capital in exchange for the support of his plan by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Hamilton’s proposals were adopted in only slightly modified form.
In December 1790, six months after the funding and assumption measures became law, Hamilton submitted to Congress a “Report … on a National Bank…” ([1790] 1934, pp. 51–95), calling for a great quasi–public institution that would provide a uniform circulating medium for the country, in crease its “active wealth,” and furnish a safe de pository for government funds and a source of government loans in time of national need.
The “Report on Manufactures” ([1791] 1934, pp. 175–276), Hamilton’s only major report re jected by Congress, was perhaps his most impor tant state paper and certainly the clearest statement of his economic philosophy. Rejecting the laissez–faire economics of Adam Smith as well as the agrarian philosophy of Thomas Jefferson, he called on the federal government to foster and encourage manufactures. The report was based on Hamilton’s interpretation of the stage of economic development which the United States had reached and the meas ures necessary for further economic growth.
Administrative activity. Hamilton’s work as sec retary of the treasury was not confined to recom mendations for the country’s financial and indus trial growth. His organization and management of the Treasury Department was a model of efficiency and his administrative theory was, in the words of the leading student of the history of public admin istration in the United States, “the first systematic exposition of public administration, a contribution which stood alone for generations” (White [1948] 1959, p. 127).
Hamilton’s role in the Washington administration was not restricted to fiscal policy. He provided congressional leadership, preparing detailed reports for congressional guidance, drafting legislation, de fending his conduct of the treasury, and occasionally preparing speeches for political allies. Nor did he refrain from interfering in the management of other departments. His help was welcomed by his friend Henry Knox, the phlegmatic secretary of war, but resented by his political opponent Thomas Jefferson, the secretary of state. Hamilton, in brief, was the chief policy maker as well as the storm center of the administrations of George Washington.
In the perspective of a century and a half, it may well be that Hamilton’s most important contribution to American history was his interpretation of the constitution. To him it was not a mere compact among states but a grant of power to the central government. The powers conferred on the federal government were not to be construed narrowly but interpreted so broadly as to allow the exercise of powers adequate to its needs. That the constitution has been sufficiently flexible to endure for so long is due in no small part to Hamilton’s role in making it the charter for a strong national state.
Jacob E. Cooke
[See also the biographies ofJeffersonandMadison.]
WORKS BY HAMILTON
(1788) 1961 Hamilton, Alexander; Madison, James; and jay, johnThe Federalist. Edited with introduction and notes by Jacob E. Cooke. Middletown, Conn.; Wesleyan Univ. Press.
(1790–1792) 1934 Papers on Public Credit, Commerce and Finance. Edited by Samuel McKee, with an introduction by Harvey Williams. New York: Columbia Univ. Press. ? A paperback edition was published in 1957 by Liberal Arts Press. See especially pages 1–50, “First Report on Public Credit,” pages 51–95, “Report on a National Bank,” and pages 175–276, “Report on Manufactures.”
The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. Edited by H. Syrett and Jacob E. Cooke. Vols. 1–11. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1961–1966.
The Works of Alexander Hamilton. 2d ed., 12 vols. Edited by Henry Cabot Lodge. New York and London: Putnam, 1904. ? The standard edition of Hamilton’s writings.
SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hamilton, JohnC. (1857–1864) 1879 The Life of Alexander Hamilton: A History of the Republic of the United States as Traced in His Writings and Those of His Contemporaries. 7 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ? Marred by J. C. Hamilton’s reverence for his father’s memory, but a storehouse of facts relating to Alexan der Hamilton’s life and times.
Miller, John C. 1959 Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in Paradox. New York: Harper. ? The best one–volume work on Hamilton’s life. A paperback edition was published in 1964 as Alexander Hamilton and the Growth of a New Nation.
Mitchell, Broadus 1957–1962 Alexander Hamilton. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan. ? Volume 1: Youth to Maturity: 1755–1788. Volume 2: The National Adventure: 1788–1804. The definitive biography.
Rossiter, Clinton L. 1964 Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution. New York: Harcourt. ? An excellent study of Hamilton’s political philosophy.
White, Leonard Dupee (1948) 1959 The Federalists: A Study in Administrative History. New York: Mac millan. ? An account of Hamilton’s contributions to administrative theory and practice.