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Exhibit Guide
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 Founding Generation > Alexander Hamilton After the Revolutionary War, Alexander Hamilton pushed for a strong national government and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Hamilton was one of the authors of the Federalist Papers which urged the ratification of the Constitution. Under his leadership as Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton helped grow the country’s economy substantially by supporting an industrial and commercial economy. Hamilton died in a duel with Aaron Burr, who was one of his political enemies. Thoughts on the Constitution As a Federalist, Hamilton advocated for a centralized government, with state governments existing as subordinate entities to the national government. He favored having a strong executive branch with power to veto legislation without an override from Congress. Hamilton thought that the executive and Senators should have lifetime terms. Although he wasn’t a fan of the final document, Hamilton supported the Constitution and thought it was better than nothing. Hamilton wrote more than 50 of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays supporting the Constitution, which ran in newspapers and other publications. John Jay and James Madison were the other writers. The following are excerpts from the papers Hamilton authored: "The fabric of American Empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure original fountain of all legislative authority" (22). "The (President) is to be elected for four years; and is to be re-eligible as often as the people of the United States shall think him worthy of their confidence. In these circumstances, there is a total dissimilitude between him and the King of Great Britain" (69). "In defense of a strong executive: Energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks: It is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws, to the protection of property against those irregular and high-handed combinations, which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice, to the security of liberty against the enterprises and assaults of ambition, of faction and of anarchy" (70). Thoughts on the Bill of Rights and personal liberties Hamilton felt that a bill of rights was unnecessary because the Constitution was written in a way that gave people their rights. He saw the rights of government and the rights of the people on similar ground since the government was run by the people. Hamilton said history also showed that bills of rights were contracts between monarchs and their people, and should not be applied in a democracy where the people have ultimate rule through their elected officials. A bill of rights may even be dangerous, Hamilton suggested, because the government could claim power over rights not enumerated, or take the broad language and create other regulations. In response to the lack of a bill of rights Hamilton wrote: “The constitution proposed by the convention contains…a number of such provisions. …I go further and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colourable pretext to claim more than were granted. …The truth is, after all of the defamation we have heard, that the constitution is itself in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, A BILL OF RIGHTS. (Federalist 84) Friends and Foes Hamilton served as an artillery captain during the Revolutionary War, which is how he became friends with General George Washington. Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were political enemies. Aaron Burr, who was vice-president under Jefferson, killed Hamilton in a duel in 1804. back to Founding Generation |
Alexander Hamilton series PBS.org Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America exhibit New-York Historical Society |
