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Alexander hamilton an american essays
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“Human nature never fails to be brought forward in its brightest as well as in its blackest colors” (Chernow 284). Throughout Alexander Hamilton’s life, he not only changed the face of our nation, but also made some decisions that ruined his political and social career. Ron Chernow takes the life of America’s youngest founding father and gives it a whole new level of depth and perspective. The purpose of this essay is to explain the author’s writing style, content, and purpose of Alexander Hamilton as well as give my personal opinion on the book’s material. Alexander Hamilton is an in-depth analyzation of Hamilton’s entire life from his days in the Caribbean to his fatal duel with Aaron Burr in New Jersey. The book starts and ends with …show more content…
While he didn’t use similes or metaphors, Chernow instead decided to add a lot of anecdotes, amplifications, foreshadowing, and imagery. As an example of foreshadowing, Chernow wrote, “[Hamilton] had an incorrigible weakness for aiding women in need” (Chernow 189), which alluded to his affair with Maria Reynolds. In doing this, he gives the reader a vivid experience of Hamilton’s life. In certain passages, it almost feels as though the reader could connect with the experiences that Alexander Hamilton went through. When the author does this it helps give a realistic account of what happened in Hamilton’s life.
As for the purpose of Alexander Hamilton, Chernow simply wants to give an “unedited” account of America’s least known founding father. The author simultaneously makes the reader feel sympathetic yet resentful toward Hamilton and the decisions he made. For example, the novel talks about how his wife has a miscarriage and how devastated Hamilton is, but in the same paragraph mentions his infidelity. The author wants to give us a taste of Hamilton’s personality as well as those who interacted with him. In doing this, Ron Chernow has written an engaging and in-depth
In the book Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, the author relates the stories of six crucial historic events that manage to capture the flavor and fervor of the revolutionary generation and its great leaders. While each chapter or story can be read separately and completely understood, they do relate to a broader common theme. One of Ellis' main purposes in writing the book was to illustrate the early stages and tribulations of the American government and its system through his use of well blended stories. The idea that a republican government of this nature was completely unprecedented is emphasized through out the book. Ellis discusses the unique problems that the revolutionary generation experienced as a result of governing under the new concept of a democracy. These problems included- the interpretation of constitutional powers, the regulation of governmental power through checks and balances, the first presidential elections, the surprising emergence of political parties, states rights vs. federal authority, and the issue of slavery in a otherwise free society. Ellis dives even deeper into the subject by exposing the readers to true insight of the major players of the founding generation. The book attempts to capture the ideals of the early revolutionary generation leaders and their conflicting political viewpoints. The personalities of Hamilton, Burr, Adams, Washington, Madison, and Jefferson are presented in great detail. Ellis exposes the reality of the internal and partisan conflict endured by each of these figures in relation to each other. Ellis emphasizes that despite these difficult hurdles, the young American nation survived its early stages because of its great collection of charismatic leaders and their ability to ...
This is where Hamilton dies, but actually both of the participants were casualties because Hamilton died, but was honored by the people and the government. However, Burr lost everything such as his reputation, and his position. Major mistakes that come from Burr and Hamilton was when Burr betrayed Jefferson when he was running his second term by switching political parties Jefferson's enemy Federalists which made Hamilton to say that he's despicable. Burr is too ambitious and desperate when it comes to politics like Jefferson. Hamilton in other hand was an arrogant. He insults Burr periodically, which made Burr to lose his position and reputation by publicly. In conclusion, by starting with a violent clash between Hamilton and Burr, establishes that the stakes for which these men had learned to debate one another. The end of this chapter did end in violent death, but the reader now understands that the author views these relationships as fiery and passionate although they were flawed by destroying their friendship, lives, and careers by insulting, killing, debating, and betraying one another, but they all failed to achieve their full aspirations due to their flawed
The author's twenty page preface details “The Generation”, which he asserts that despite current trends in scholarship, the real essence of the revolutionary era lies in the thoughts and deeds of this handful of Patriot elites, which had publicly pledged at great peril to their own lives and fortunes their undeniable support for the ideals of our founding documents. America's most famous (or infamous) duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr is the backdrop for first chapter. This might lead one to think Ellis intends to move backward in time through the book, considering it occurred on July 11, 1804, however such is not the case as mentioned. Ellis does manage to present a fairly balanced view of the part played by both participants in the long war of words which finally led to the deadly showdown near Weehawken, New Jersey, providing an accounting of the historical scholarship on this well told chapter of our history.
Everyone has heard the name Alexander Hamilton, but few are familiar with his views and actions regarding the survival of the young American republic. He could be recognized for anything from serving our fledgling country by fighting in the New York militia; to serving his community as a lawyer and as a national tax agent; to beginning his political career as a representative for New York at the National Congress. Though most would agree his most important contribution to our struggling republic was to spearhead the project which formed the doctrine helping to establish the foundation in which modern democracy is based, the Articles of Confederation.
America was born and survived, its rough road into a nation, through a series of events, or moments in history. The founding brother’s book is about a few important figures during and after the American Revolution. These important figures consisted of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, John Adams, George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. Each of these men, contributed to the building of America in one way or another. The book breaks these contributions into a few short stories, to help understand what these important figures did.
Many people think that all of the scandals and betrayal in politics have just recently started but little do they know that they have been going on since before people would write things down so we do not have them on record. One of the stories that we do know though is the Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr story. This story is a very interesting story because it shows us the difference of how things were handled back then and how we handled them now. If this story were to happen in our time nothing of the same importance would really happen but since it was handled then it ended up being a duel and resulted in the death of one of those two men.
The day that Alexander Hamilton was first placed into the United States Government would be the day which would forever change our nation. The time when he would start and create a fantastic economy out of scratch. He did it with one brilliant five point plan. But there were three parts of the plan which were the body of this project. These were the assumption of state debt, the whiskey tax, and the construction of a national bank. All of these together would enhance our economy, before the tyrant Jackson would destroy them (bank). Nevertheless, his plan dealt with and solved the tough issues such as federal debt, government money supply, and economical shape throughout our nation. So for these answers he gave to our people, we must be grateful
Of the many figures in American History, Alexander Hamilton has proven himself one of the most versatile and influential. His policies and ideals have helped the United States blossom into a prosperous world power. Through his power as secretary of Treasury and his convincing intellectual efforts, he was able to dominate the nations early political environment. Hamilton’s patriotic endeavors have proven themselves to be durable and in the best interests of the United States.
George Washington became President in 1789 and since then has been regarded as America’s “Founding Father”(10). This grand and hero-like status is said to have “began gravitating to Washington six months before the Declaration of Independence, when one Levi Allen addressed him in a letter as ‘our political Father.’”(10). The preservation of Washington’s role as a national hero has been allowed by authors and the media omitting his many flaws as if they had either been forgotten or were no longer important. Yet by excluding these human faults, they have projected an almost god-like hero and inflicted him upon the nation as their Father, somebody whose “life still has the power to inspire anyone”(10).
Alexander Hamilton was born a bastard child in the West Indies and demonstrated great intellectual potential at an early age. He was sent to New York City for schooling and studied at King’s College, now Columbia University. His vision of America took a more capitalistic tone and “he was determined to transform an economically weak and fractious cluster of states into a powerful global force” (Tindall & Shi, 2010). Hamilton advocated a strong central government. He was bold and persuasive and his philosophies quite extraordinary for his time.
Alexander Hamilton was a bastard son, orphan, immigrant, political scientist, soldier, and the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America who transformed not only the country’s banking system but also left a rich legacy that changed America forever. A forgotten founding father, he wrote his way out of poverty at fourteen and later became George Washington’s aide-de-camp and a respected soldier before becoming apart of the first cabinet of the United States. Hamilton not only had a notorious political career, but also personal life, which captivated Americans and heavily influenced his career. Alexander Hamilton’s early life, revolutionary years, years in public service and the cabinet as well as his scandal and devastating
Alexander Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis of the British West Indies January eleventh in 1757. He lived with his brother and a single mother. In 1772, Hamilton moved to the United states. He entered the Continental Army in 1776 as the captain of artillery while in New York where he also studied law at King’s College. He was married to Elizabeth Schuyler in 1780. Elizabeth was from a wealthy land holding family, this helped Alexander hold ties to rich and powerful leaders in New York. Alexander Hamilton died in 1804 on July 12. Aaron Burr was the man who killed him in a duel because Mr. Hamilton help Thomas Jefferson win the election for becoming the 3rd president of the United States.
This book may be aimed towards the audience of adults, but I hope that soon teenagers will soon become interested in History. I have alway been a huge fan of American History, but I do not like to read. This book though I do want to read, because of the amazing explanations of “The Duel.” Ever since this broadway show Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda I have wanted to learn more about the life of Alexander Hamilton,. Whenever I find a book that describes Hamilton’s life I want to read it, and i'm glad I read Founding Brothers. Within this book Ellis uses many quotes from Hamilton and Burr which is personally one of my favorite parts. The quotes of Hamilton is one of my favorite parts of the book because of Hamilton's amazing skills with a paper and pen. Another element of the book I enjoyed is the still problematic conclusion of Hamilton's death. In “The Duel” there were two shots fired, one by Hamilton and one by Burr. There are two hypothesis’ shared in the book on who shot first. This is important to me because the author was not biased and did not only include one option, I feel like in doing this they gave the reader a choice of which conclusion they want. Joseph J. Ellis did not only stay unbiased he also included some fun and interesting little tidbits throughout the story. When I say this I mean when he described the connection between the weapons used in “The Duel.”
The selected musical Hamilton is based on the story of an implausible Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. It summarizes, his early life as an orphan in the Caribbean. Hamilton was born out of wedlock in the West Indies his father abandoned him, and his mother died when Hamilton was 12. By the of 19, Hamilton has made his way to the American colonies, a dedicated supporter of American independence. He served under Washington, as his right-hand man, he was a war hero, rebel, a loving husband (who had an affair with another woman), and he was also the head of U.S. Treasury. The musical is based purely on various incidences of Hamilton life. It features Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, and George Washington that
Finseth, Ian. "The Rise and Fall of Alexander Hamilton." xroads virginia. asgrp@virginia.edu, Web. 20 Nov 2013.