Monday, September 13, 2004

A Bit About Alexander Hamilton

"We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country." So says columnist George Will, referring to Thomas Jefferson, the oft-quoted American founder whose vision for America was spurned in favor of that espoused by another founder, one we rarely consider, Alexander Hamilton.

Happily, there seems to be a strong impulse toward understanding Hamilton these days. That's all for the good. Understanding Hamilton may help us understand America and thus act as an antidote for our ahistorical political life. In spite of a sometimes-checkered personal life, Hamilton deserves our attention and study.

An article in the latest US News and World Report (in which the Will quote appears) and an exhibit in New York, put together by Hamilton biographer Richard Brookhiser, along with a new biography by Ronald Chernow, are all part of a Hamilton revival.

Hamilton, with Washington, is the founding father of what I would call moderate or progressive conservatism, the wise political philosophy which, over time, has prevailed in America. Its practitioners, in my estimation, have included Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower. Each were conservatives who believed that the federal government could act as a facilitator of national life and an engine for good.

If you get the chance to delve into a Hamilton biography and only have time for one, I heartily recommend Brookhiser's. I haven't yet had the opportunity to read Chernow's more extensive book.

No comments: