The Shortcomings Of Alexander Hamilton

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“If you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you fall for?” Lin-Manuel Miranda raps at the beginning of his hit musical, Hamilton. This sentence truly epitomizes the ideal that governed Alexander Hamilton’s life; that is to say that he was always a weighty advocate for the things in which he believed. His accomplishments range from orchestrating the Bank of New York to being a delegate for the Continental Congress, proving him to be a well rounded Founding Father. Nonetheless many would like to discredit Hamilton because he, like all human beings, had significant flaws; he had an affair, he had trouble keeping his head, and many other countless flaws. However, does not every human being have a multitude of shortcomings? From the perspective of …show more content…

The Federalist Papers are a collection of eighty five essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Hamilton wrote over two-thirds of the essays while Jay and Madison shared the remaining third. These essays were sent to newspapers under the pseudonym “Publius”; Publius is a common Roman name and can be linked back to the word public. These essays are vital because they helped Americans to understand the U.S. Constitution and impacted public opinion on the ratification of the aforementioned document. America was extremely divided on the issue of federalism as opposed to anti-federalism. The Federalist Papers helped define whether or not America would succeed with its experimental constitution and …show more content…

Chernow also mentions, in his biography about Hamilton, that, “Because many Americans still bartered, Hamilton wanted to encourage the use of coins. As part of his campaign to foster a market economy, Hamilton suggested introducing a wide variety of coins, including gold and silver dollars, a ten-cent silver piece, and copper coins of a cent or half cent. He wasn’t just thinking of rich people; small coins would benefit the poor “by enabling them to purchase in small portions and at a more reasonable rate the necessaries of which they stand in need” (356). It would seem that he always had the common good in the forefront of his mind. The first national bank was established so that the government had a bank to utilize, but it was ultimately used to unify currency and the way in which everyone received currency. National banks and a unified currency were crucial in keeping a strong central government as well as a market

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