The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 97, November, 1865

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Such were the views of Hamilton in 1787, and which had undergone no
change in the sixteen years that elapsed between that time and the date
of his letter to Colonel Pickering. Yet this man, so true a republican
that his only desire was to have the republican polity that he knew must
here exist so framed and constituted as to become permanent, has been
drawn as a bigoted monarchist and as the enemy of freedom! In the eyes
of good democrats he was the Evil Principle incarnate; and even to this
day, in the more retired portions of the country, they believe, that, if
he had lived a few years longer, he would have made himself king, and
married one of the daughters of George III. They had, and some of them
yet have, about as clear conceptions of Hamilton's career and conduct as
Squire Western and his class had of the intentions of the English Whigs
of George II.'s time, whom they suspected of the intention of seizing
and selling their estates, with the purpose of sending the proceeds to
Hanover, to be invested in the funds.

The leaders of the great party which triumphed in 1801, and who had
libelled Hamilton while they were in opposition, found it for their
interest to continue their misrepresentations long after the fall of the
Federalists, and when the ablest of all the Federalists had been for
years in his grave. Many of them could overlook Burr's party treachery,
as well as his supposed treason, because he had been the rival of
Hamilton; though probably it would be unjust to them to suppose that
they approved of his conduct in murdering the man whose talents and
influence caused them so much alarm. So far was Hamilton from pursuing a
course in the Convention of 1787 that would have embarrassed that body,
because it did not adopt all his plans, that Dr. W. S. Johnson, one of
Connecticut's delegates, said, that, if "the Constitution did not
succeed on trial, Mr. Hamilton was less responsible for that result than
any other member, for he fully and frankly pointed out to the Convention
what he apprehended were the infirmities to which it was liable,--and
that, if it answered the fond expectations of the public, the community
would be more indebted to Mr. Hamilton than to any other member, for,
after its essential outlines were agreed to, he labored most
indefatigably to heal those infirmities, and to guard against the evils
to which they might expose it." M. Guizot, who understands our
politics, who knows our history, and whose practical statesmanship and
lofty talents render his opinion most valuable, when he declared that
"there is not in the Constitution of the United States an element of
order, of force, of duration, which Hamilton has not powerfully
contributed to introduce into it and to give it a predominance," stated
but the simplest truth. Equally correct is his remark, that "Hamilton
must be classed among the men who have best known the vital principles
and fundamental conditions of a government." Alone of all the New York
delegates Hamilton subscribed the Constitution.

In the discussions that followed the labors of the Convention, Hamilton
had the principal part in urging the adoption of the Constitution. "The
Federalist," that first of all American political works, and the
excellence of which was quickly recognized by foreign statesmen, was his
production. Not only did he write most of it, but the least of what he
wrote for it excels the best that was contributed to it by men so able
as Jay and Madison. Every attempt that has been made to take from him
any portion of the honor of this masterly work has failed, and it is now
admitted that it can fairly be associated only with his name. "The total
number of these essays," says Mr. John C. Hamilton, "by Hamilton's
enumeration, approved by Madison, is seen to be eighty-five. Of this
enumeration, an abbreviated copy by Hamilton from his original minute,
both in Hamilton's autograph, ascribes to himself the sole authorship of
sixty-three numbers, and the joint authorship with Madison of three
numbers, leaving to the latter the sole authorship of fourteen numbers,
and to Jay of five numbers."[H] "The Federalist" had a powerful
influence on the public mind, and contributed vastly to the success of
the Constitutionalists; and other writings of Hamilton had scarcely less
effect. Had he not been a friend of the Constitution, and had he sought
only the creation of a powerful central government, he never would have
labored for the success of the Constitutional party; for the surest road
to despotism would have been through that anarchy which must have
followed a refusal by the people to ratify the action of the Convention
of 1787. As a member of the Convention of the State of New York,
Hamilton most ably supported the ratification of the Constitution made
at Philadelphia.

The Constitution was adopted, and the new government was organized on
the 30th of April, 1789, on which day General Washington became
President of the United States. It was not until the 2d of September
that the Treasury Department was created; and on the 11th Alexander
Hamilton was made Secretary of the Treasury. Writing to Robert Morris,
Washington had asked, "What are we to do with this heavy debt?" To which
Morris answered, "There is but one man in the United States who can tell
you: that is Alexander Hamilton. I am glad you have given me this
opportunity to declare to you the extent of the obligations I am under
to him." Hamilton had thought of the station for himself, but his
warmest personal friends objected to his taking it Robert Troup
says,--"I remonstrated with him: he admitted that his acceptance of it
would be likely to injure his family, but said there was a strong
impression on his mind that in the financial department he would
essentially promote the welfare of the country; and this impression,
united with Washington's request, forbade his refusal of the
appointment." Having said, in conversing with Gouverneur Morris, that he
was confident he could restore public credit, "Morris remonstrated with
him for thinking of so perilous a position, on which calumny and
persecution were the inevitable attendants. 'Of that,' Hamilton
answered, 'I am aware; but I am convinced it is the situation in which I
can do most good.'" He had the same just self-confidence that Cromwell
felt, when he said to John Hampden that he would effect something for
the Parliamentary cause, and that William Pitt felt in 1757, when he
said to the Duke of Devonshire, "My Lord, I am sure that I can save this
country, and that nobody else can." As with Cromwell and with Pitt,
Hamilton's self-confidence was to be conclusively justified by the
event.

Hamilton's career as the first finance minister of the United States is
the greatest evidence of statesmanship in American history; nor is it
likely ever to be surpassed, so complete is the change in the country's
condition,--a change due in great measure to his policy and conduct. The
world's annals show no more striking example of the right man in the
right place than is afforded by Hamilton's Secretaryship of the
Treasury. "The discerning eye of Washington," said Mr. Webster in 1831,
"immediately called him to that post which was far the most important in
the administration of the new system. He was made Secretary of the
Treasury; and how he fulfilled the duties of such a place, at such a
time, the whole country perceived with delight, and the whole world saw
with admiration. He smote the rock of the National Resources, and
abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of
the Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet. The fabled birth of
Minerva, from the brain of Jove, was hardly more sudden or more perfect
than the financial system of the United States, as it burst forth from
the conceptions of Alexander Hamilton." Lofty as this praise is, it is
literally true. American Public Credit was a dead corpse in 1789; and in
1790 it was living and erect, as it has ever since remained, in spite of
the utmost exertions of all political parties to reduce it to the state
in which Hamilton found it, in the hope of injuring their rivals. All
that has been good in our financial history for three quarters of a
century is due to Alexander Hamilton; and all that has been evil in it
can be traced directly to violation of his principles or disregard of
his modes of action. That we were enabled to preserve the Union against
the attacks of the Secessionists must be attributed to Hamilton's genius
and exertions. He is one of those "dead, but sceptred sovereigns, who
still rule our spirits from their urns."

Ten days after his appointment to office, Secretary Hamilton was
required by Congress to report a plan for the support of the public
credit. His report is admitted, even by those who do not agree with its
views, to be an able state paper. Besides upholding the payment of the
foreign debt, on which all parties were of one mind, he recommended that
the domestic debt should be treated in the same spirit. As the revival
and maintenance of the public credit was the object which the Secretary
had in view, he advocated the fulfilment of original contracts, no
matter by whom claims might be held. His recommendations were adopted;
and the famous "funding system" dates from that time, and with it the
prosperity of the United States. He had recommended the assumption of
the State debts; but in this he was only partially successful. The
measures suggested for the carrying out of his system were adopted.
Among these was the creation of a national bank, at the beginning of
1791. Other measures concerned the raising of revenue, and were
extraordinarily successful. And yet others for the advancement of trade,
both foreign and domestic, were not less successful: there being no
subject that came properly within his department to which he did not
give his entire attention; and as he was laboring for a new nation, it
necessarily happened that all the machinery had to be improvised, To the
demands made on his intellect, his time, and his industry, the Secretary
was found to be more than equal. His triumphs astonished and gratified
the friends of good government throughout the world, and carried his
name to all nations. In only eighteen months, a change had been effected
such as it well might have taken as many years to accomplish, and which
thoroughly justified the new polity, and the measures which had been
adopted under it. Foreign commerce flourished, and also the domestic
trade. The agricultural interest prospered, and manufactures steadily
increased. "The waste lands in the interior were being rapidly settled;
towns were springing up in every direction; the seaports were increasing
in wealth and population; and that great career of internal improvement,
by numerous highways, with which the United States have amazed the
world, was begun." Fisher Ames wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury
that the national bank and the Federal Government possessed more
popularity than any institution or government could long maintain. "The
success of the government, and especially of the measures proceeding
from your department," he said, "has astonished the multitude; and while
it has shut the mouths, it has stung the envious hearts, of the State
leaders." American credit was raised so high in Europe, that, at the
opening of 1791, a great loan was taken in Holland in two hours, on
better terms than any European government but one could have obtained.
The subscriptions to the national bank were filled in a day, and could
easily have been doubled. Such another instance of successful
statesmanship it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find.

It is sometimes said that the success of the Hamiltonian system was due
to European events,--that the great wars which grew out of the French
Revolution created so extensive demands for our productions that we must
have prospered, no matter what should have been the course of American
political life. What might have been, had the Constitution failed of
adoption, it is not necessary to discuss; but this we know, that the
success of Secretary Hamilton's plans was pronounced and complete before
the European wars alluded to began. That success was seen in the early
days of 1791, and war did not commence until 1792; and then it was not
waged on that grand scale to which it subsequently reached. The war
between France and England, which affected this country most, broke out
in 1793, two years after Ames had written so encouragingly to Hamilton,
and yet warning him to prepare for the inevitable Nemesis, that "envy of
the gods," which, according to the Hellenic superstition, but fairly
justifiable by innumerable historical facts, waits on all prosperity and
rebukes human wisdom. To us it seems that the most that can be said of
the effect of the wide-spread and long-continued European quarrel on our
business was this,--that it gave to it much of its peculiar character,
but did not create it, and was not necessary to its creation or its
continuance. What Hamilton did was to remove depressing influences from
American life and the American mind,--to substitute order for disorder,
hope for fear, and confidence and security for dread and distrust. This
was what was done by Hamilton and his associates; and this done, the
native energies of the people did all the rest. It is all but certain
that the extraordinary career of material prosperity that began
immediately after it was seen what was to be our policy under the new
polity, would have been essentially the same, as to the general result,
had Europe remained quiet for twenty years longer, and had there been no
downfall of the old French monarchy. The details of American business
life would have been different, but the result would have been pretty
much the same as what we have seen.

Events soon justified the apprehensions of the sensitive, but sagacious
Ames. Hamilton's prosperity bred its natural consequences, and he became
the target at which many aspiring men directed their attacks,--Thomas
Jefferson standing at their head. The cause of this, which has been
sought in the French Revolution, in opposition to the supposed
centralizing tendencies of the Hamiltonian policy, and so forth, really
lies on the surface. It grew out of men's ambition, and their desire for
power. It was plain to Southern men, that, if Hamilton were permitted to
accomplish his purpose entire, he must become the man of men, and that
his influence would become equal to that of Washington, whose influence
they bowed to most unwillingly. Not less plain was it that power would
be with the North. Hence their determination to "break him down," which
they would have pursued with all their might, had the French Revolution
been postponed, though its occurrence furnished them with means of
attack,--the larger part of the American people sympathizing with the
French, while Hamilton shared with Edmund Burke opinions which time has
done much to show were sound; and he was a strenuous supporter of that
policy of neutrality which Washington wisely adopted. The Secretary of
the Treasury was assailed by those who envied and hated him, in various
ways. His official integrity was called in question, but the
investigations which he courted led to the confounding of his enemies,
while his personal character stood brighter than ever. So bitter became
the opposition that some of their number wished for the success of the
Whiskey Insurrection in Pennsylvania, as Mr. Jefferson's correspondence
shows; and the part which Hamilton had in suppressing that outbreak did
not increase their regard for him. The presence of two such men in
Washington's Cabinet as Hamilton and Jefferson made it the scene of
dissension until Jefferson retired.

Hamilton remained in office some time longer; and when he left it, he
did so only for personal reasons. He was poor. He had expended, not only
his salary, but almost all the property he possessed when he took
office. The man who had made his country rich had made himself poor by
his devotion to her interests, and had received nothing but vindictive
abuse in requital of his unrivalled labors. He resolved to return to the
practice of his profession, which he never would have left, had he
consulted merely his individual interests and those of his family. Some
weeks before he retired, he addressed a letter to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, announcing his purpose, in order that inquiry
might be made into the state of his department, should Congress see fit
to make it; but his foes had been so humiliated by the results of the
two inquiries undertaken at their instance, that they would not venture
upon a third. In January, 1795, he sent a letter to Congress on the
subject of the public credit, which is one of his ablest productions,
full of sound financial doctrine, and showing that he was in advance of
most men on those economical questions the proper settlement of which so
closely concerns the welfare of nations. This letter affords a complete
view of the financial history of the government, and may be considered
as Secretary Hamilton's statement of his case to the world. The debt
exceeded $76,000,000, a sum that bore as great a proportion to the
revenues of the country seventy years since as the debt of to-day bears
to our present resources. As Hamilton was no believer in the absurd
doctrine that "a national debt is a national blessing," we need say no
more than that he dwelt with emphasis on the necessity of providing for
the debt's payment. It is important to mention that he declared
government could not rightfully tax its promises to pay.

Though Hamilton, as Madison wrote to Jefferson, went to New York "with
the word Poverty as his label," his great reputation rapidly secured for
him abundant professional employment. But he was too important a
personage to be able to refrain altogether from political pursuits, and
was forced to defend some of the measures of government, though no
longer responsible for them. He advocated Jay's Treaty, one of the most
unpopular measures that ever were carried through by an honest
government in face of the most vehement opposition. Had the treaty been
rejected, war with England would probably have followed, which would
have been a profound calamity. While living in retirement, Hamilton was
assailed by his Southern enemies, who were supported by their Northern
allies, their object being to show that he had acted corruptly while at
the head of the Treasury. His reply was as complete a refutation as
their earlier calumnies had encountered. He wrote the celebrated
Farewell Address of President Washington. On all occasions he was ready
with pen and tongue to defend and uphold those political principles in
the triumph of which he had that interest which a statesman must ever
have in the advancement of truth.

When it was supposed that the French might attempt the invasion of this
country, in 1798, preparations were made to meet them. Washington was
made Commander-in-Chief, with the rank of Lieutenant-General; but he
stipulated that he should not be required to take the field save for
active service, and that Hamilton should have the post next to his own,
which made the latter actually commander of the army. He was
indefatigable in discharging the duties of this station; but,
fortunately, hostilities with France were confined to the ocean, and the
seizure of power in that country by Bonaparte led to a settlement of the
points in dispute. Hamilton again returned to private life. He could
not, however, altogether give up politics, but was forced to take some
part in the exciting political contests of those days. When the
Presidential election of 1801 devolved upon the House of
Representatives, he exerted his influence against Burr, whom the
Federalists were inclined to support, preferring him to Jefferson. In
1804 he again labored to defeat Burr's political aspirations, and
prevented his being chosen Governor of New York. Burr was then on the
verge of ruin, and he resolved upon being revenged, and on the
destruction of so powerful a political foe. He required from Hamilton
the disavowal of language which there was no evidence that he
ever had used, and so managed the dispute that a duel became
inevitable,--reference being had to the state of public sentiment then
prevalent on the subject of honor, and to the circumstance that duelling
was almost as common in New York at that time as it was in any Southern
State just before the Secession War.

The death of Alexander Hamilton was as much the work of assassination as
was that of Abraham Lincoln, in all save the forms that were observed on
the occasion. Aaron Burr, of whose actions he had sometimes spoken with
severity,--but not with more severity than is common in all high party
times,[I]--was determined that so bold and able an enemy should be
removed from his political path; and to that end he fastened a duel upon
him, and in the meeting that ensued deliberately shot him. It has been
said, that Burr, who was "a good shot" from his youth, and whose nerves
were as brazen as his brow, practised with the pistol for some days
before the fatal encounter took place; and the story is perfectly in
character, and helps sustain the position that Hamilton was
assassinated. That Hamilton should have consented to meet such a man,
knowing as he did what was his purpose, and that he was capable of any
crime, has often been remarked upon; and probably his decision will
serve to point many a moral for ages, and all the more emphatically when
the force of that opinion in regard to duelling which once was so strong
shall not only have utterly passed away, but have been forgotten, and
have become quite incomprehensible to men who shall live in the light of
sounder opinion than prevailed at the beginning of this century. A
soldier, it was reasonable that Hamilton should feel very differently on
the point of honor from a mere civilian, and that he should not have
felt himself at liberty to decline Burr's challenge. He believed that
his ability to be useful thereafter in public life would be greatly
lessened, should he not fight. In the paper he drew up, giving his
reasons for the course he pursued, he says,--"The ability to be in
future useful, whether in resisting mischief or in effecting good, in
those crises of our public affairs which seem likely to happen, would
probably be inseparable from a conformity with public prejudice in this
particular." He was particularly thinking of his power to contend
against a scheme for a dissolution of the Union which had been formed in
the North, the existence of which he knew, and also that it was known to
Burr, who, had he not committed suicide by the same act which made him a
murderer, would soon have been seen at the head of a rebellion. The
result of the duel was to deprive Burr of all power and influence. He
killed Hamilton, but he fell himself by the same shot that carried death
to his opponent; and so complete was his fall that he never could rise
again, though he continued to cumber the earth for more than thirty-two
years. Hamilton's quarrel with Burr, as his son and biographer truly
observes, "was the quarrel of his country. It was the last act in the
great drama of his life. It was the deliberate sacrifice of that life
for his country's welfare,--a sacrifice which, by overwhelming his
antagonist with the execrations of the American people, prevented a
civil war, and saved from 'dismemberment' this great republic."

What strikes us most forcibly, in considering Hamilton's career, is the
remarkably, early development of his powers. At thirteen, he was found
competent to take charge of a mercantile establishment. At fifteen, his
writings win for him public applause and the aid of friends. At
seventeen, he addresses with success a great public meeting. At
eighteen, his anonymous productions are attributed to some of the
leading men of America. At nineteen, he has thought out that principle
of government which is indelibly associated with his name. At twenty, he
has not only approved himself a skilful and courageous soldier, but he
has won the esteem of the grave and reserved Washington, and is placed
by that great man in a post of the closest confidence, and which really
makes him the second man in the American service. At twenty-three, he
has shown that he is master of the intricate subject of finance. At
twenty-five, after an active military life that had allowed no time for
study, he is known as a lawyer of the first order. At twenty-six, he is
distinguished as a member of Congress. At thirty, he takes a leading
part in framing the Constitution of the United States. And in his
thirty-third year, he becomes the most extraordinary finance minister
the world has ever seen. He was statesman, soldier, writer, and orator,
and first in each department; and he was as ready for all the parts
which he filled as if he had been long and studiously trained for each
of them by the best of instructors. When Mr. Webster so happily compared
the instantaneousness and perfection of his financial system to "the
fabled birth of Minerva," he did but allude to what is to be remarked of
all Hamilton's works. All that he did was perfect, and no one seems to
have been aware of his power until he had established the fact of its
existence. Such a combination of precocity and versatility stands quite
unparalleled. Octavius, William the Third, Henry St. John, Charles James
Fox, and William Pitt the younger, all showed various powers at early
periods of their lives; but not one of them was the equal of Hamilton in
respect to early maturity of intellect, or in ability to command success
in every department to which he turned his attention. The historical
character of whom he most reminds us is the elder Africanus. In the
early development of his faculties, in his self-reliant spirit, in his
patriotism, in his kingliness of mind, in his personal purity, in his
generosity of thought and of action, and in the fear and envy that he
excited in inferior minds, he was a repetition of the most majestic of
all the Romans. But, unlike the Roman soldier-statesman, he did not
desert the land he had saved, but which had proved ungrateful; and the
grave only was to be his Liternum. He died at not far from the same age
as that to which Africanus reached. In comparing him with certain other
men who achieved fame early, it should be remembered that they all were
regularly prepared for public life, and were born to it as to an
inheritance; whereas he, though of patrician blood, was possessed of no
advantages of fortune, and had to fight the battle of life while
fighting the battles of the nation.

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