![]() It is more valid to say that Hamilton was a patron saint of Wall Street. We have caught up to his prophetic vision. ![]() ![]() I think one reason for the eventual reappraisal of Hamilton is that America has grown into the contours of the country of his imagination, not Jefferson’s. ![]() Jefferson represented a more soothing point of view: an America of small towns and traditional agriculture. This was a frightening and sinister vision to a lot of Americans at the time. He envisioned a country built on banks, corporations, stock exchanges and factories. On the other hand, Hamilton had a very modern take on our economic future. And if history is written by the victors, the victor during this era was the Democratic Party. Hamilton’s Federalist Party had disappeared by the start of the 19th century. ![]() What do you notice about that list? Those were the men who were solidly in charge of American politics for many decades after Hamilton’s death. Hamilton’s main political enemies were John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe-and I’ll even throw in John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson for good measure. A: I think the fact that he was killed in that duel has something to do with the lack of appreciation it robbed him of the opportunity in later years to write his own defense, or his own history of the events of the early republic. ![]()
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