Unless your government is respectable, foreigners will invade your rights; and to maintain tranquillity you must be respectable; even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.
Alexander Hamilton, Elliot’s Debates, volume 1, p. 463
Currently viewing the category: "Alexander Hamilton"
Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
Alexander Hamilton, Elliot’s Debates, volume 2, p. 364
As an historical interpreter of Alexander Hamilton, I’m often asked what Hamilton would think about particular modern policies and legislation. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to take the views of Hamilton—operating in a much different nation and world, more than two hundred years ago—and apply them accurately to our own circumstances and time. Hamilton was a deep, rational thinker. He would doubtless eschew all such attempts.
But this much we do know. Hamilton was a political realist. He knew that humans are self-interested beings, usually intent on pursuing that which benefits them directly. Thus, government is necessary, he reasoned, “because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.” His early political ally, James Madison, perhaps said it best: “If all men were angels there would be no need for government.” Yet Hamilton was also an idealist when it came to politics. He believed that “fit men” could be identified and elected to political office—people who would work tirelessly for the benefit of all. This was a view he embraced early and perhaps articulated best in a series of newspaper articles written during the Revolutionary War.
Hamilton was disgusted by charges that a Member of Congress was using insider information to engage in business deals that hurt the army’s ability to provision its soldiers. As Aide de Camp to General George Washington, Hamilton was in a position to see the impact of such selfishness. And, in a series of three newspaper articles, he not only condemned the legislator’s activities but outlined as well what he thought should be the characteristics of a virtuous Member of Congress.
Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
Alexander Hamilton, Elliot’s Debates, volume 2, p. 364. (1788-07-28)
Get a FREE copy of “The Life of Alexander Hamilton” by Henry Cabot Lodge
When we make out the list of statesmen of the first rank, Alexander Hamilton would probably receive at least a plurality of votes for the highest place. In the minds of his countrymen, his memory has always been surrounded with a brilliant halo, has always had a prestige which may be regarded as in some respects surprising.
For when readers come down to the actual records of his career, they find that they have to hear chiefly of financial schemes, the management of the treasury, arrangements concerning the national debt, revenues, tariffs, and internal taxation—dry matters, for the most part, and not often enticing popular interest.
None the less it is the case that our historical writers have found a singular fascination about Hamilton; the amount of literature and the consequent research concerning him have been very great. Such a condition cannot be accounted for by the tradition of his personal beauty of countenance and charm of manner, which made him a leader of the leaders in public life, neither by the interesting tale of his tragic death. The explanation and the truth lie far deeper.
Hamilton’s fame indicates the unformulated but full appreciation of the unquestionable historic fact that he was the real maker of the government of the United States. Washington created, or at least caused to be created, the national entity; Hamilton did actually create the political entity.
Get a FREE copy of “The Essential Alexander Hamilton”
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, co-author and the driving force behind the Federalist Papers, one of America’s first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.
In this 11 page booklet are the most important and essential Alexander Hamilton quotes. References are included if you wish to research the original document.
To download your copy of “The Essential Alexander Hamilton” please right mouse click on the link, then select “save as” and download to your computer - Essential-Alexander-Hamilton
If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws — the first growing out of the last, a sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.
Alexander Hamilton, Essay in the American Daily Advertiser (1794-08-28)
“A price would be set not only upon our friendship, but upon our neutrality. By a steady adherence to the Union we may hope, erelong, to become the arbiter of Europe in America, and to be able to incline the balance of European competitions in this part of the world as our interest may dictate.”
– Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 11, “The Utility of the Union in Respect to Commercial Relations and a Navy,” Independent Journal, November 24, 1787; “The Federalist (The Gideon Edition),” (1818), Edited with an Introduction, Reader’s Guide, Constitutional Cross-reference, Index, and Glossary by George W. Carey and James McClellan (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001)
“THE importance of the Union, in a commercial light, is one of those points about which there is least room to entertain a difference of opinion, and which has, in fact, commanded the most general assent of men who have any acquaintance with the subject.”
– Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 11, “The Utility of the Union in Respect to Commercial Relations and a Navy,” Independent Journal, November 24, 1787; “The Federalist (The Gideon Edition),” (1818), Edited with an Introduction, Reader’s Guide, Constitutional Cross-reference, Index, and Glossary by George W. Carey and James McClellan (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001)
“The definition of a confederate republic seems simply to be “an assemblage of societies,” or an association of two or more states into one state.
The extent, modifications, and objects of the federal authority are mere matters of discretion. So long as the separate organization of the members be not abolished; so long as it exists, by a constitutional necessity, for local purposes; though it should be in perfect subordination to the general authority of the union, it would still be, in fact and in theory, an association of states, or a confederacy.
The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power.
This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government.”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 9, “The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection,” Independent Journal, November 21, 1787; “
“As this government is composed of small republics, it enjoys the internal happiness of each; and with respect to its external situation, it is possessed, by means of the association, of all the advantages of large monarchies.”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 9, “The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection,” Independent Journal, November 21, 1787; “
“Should a popular insurrection happen in one of the confederate states the others are able to quell it.
Should abuses creep into one part, they are reformed by those that remain sound.
The state may be destroyed on one side, and not on the other; the confederacy may be dissolved, and the confederates preserve their sovereignty.”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 9, “The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection,” Independent Journal, November 21, 1787; “
“If a single member should attempt to usurp the supreme authority, he could not be supposed to have an equal authority and credit in all the confederate states.
Were he to have too great influence over one, this would alarm the rest.
Were he to subdue a part, that which would still remain free might oppose him with forces independent of those which he had usurped and overpower him before he could be settled in his usurpation.”
– Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 9, “The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection,” Independent Journal, November 21, 1787; “
“A republic of this kind, able to withstand an external force, may support itself without any internal corruptions. The form of this society prevents all manner of inconveniences.”
– Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 9, “The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection,” Independent Journal, November 21, 1787; “
“The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges holding their offices during good behavior; the representation of the people in the legislature by deputies of their own election: these are wholly new discoveries, or have made their principal progress towards perfection in modern times.
They are means, and powerful means, by which the excellences of republican government may be retained and its imperfections lessened or avoided.”
– Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 9, “The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection,” Independent Journal, November 21, 1787; “
