Around 2 AM this morning I finished “Alexander Hamilton”, an epic book that exceeds 700 pages and the source of the wildly popular play “Hamilton”. Normally I would lose interest halfway through a lengthy book, but the biography delves so deeply into Hamilton’s life and the early days of our nation that I could not let go. So, I read small sections every night for about a month.

I learned with joy about the idealistic commitment to building a nation-state based on enlightenment values. Something we can point to in today’s governmental mayhem? Or not. The second half of “Alexander Hamilton” details the flip side of the early optimism: fierce infighting. Character assassination. However, the founding fathers missed out on Twitter, Facebook, and television to attack each other so they relied on words. Lots of words. Two rival NY newspapers published essays (attacks) and printed pamphlets so uncivil that today’s verbiage seems tame.

Alexander Hamilton wrote more than anyone else. At first, he wrote constructive pieces about Constitutional interpretation (“Federalist Papers“). As his power waned, he attacked the second President, John Adams, so viciously that he damaged his own reputation. I can imagine him hunched over his desk, scribbling with his poison quill until the sun rose again. Like the other pamphleteers and essay writers, he always used a pseudonym chosen from the list of early Greek thinkers. His favorites include Publius and Junius.

The problem? The Democratic-Republicans (how is that for an oxymoron/) wanted the states to have more power, while the Federalists wanted a strong central government. This brought about a two-party system and relentless, brutal infighting. The Federalists, led by Washington and Hamilton, started out with all the power and the rebellious Democratic – Republicans, led by Jefferson, gained power by the third presidential election. Like Trump’s attacks on Obama policies today, Jefferson managed to undo some of Hamilton’s pet projects.

This reality stands in contrast to what I learned in school, right here in Akron, OH. I learned about larger-than-life heroes and I internalized absurd vignettes, like Washington chopping down a cherry tree and never telling a lie. I learned about Betsey Ross sewing up the first flag. Paul Revere and his midnight ride. The Liberty Bell. I am beginning to understand that we were sheltered from the truth about the heroic yet all too human people who developed our democracy. They were aristocratic, educated, monied people who started in the right direction and then strayed from their democratic and moral ideals.

John Adams, Alexander Hamilton

Last night, as I completed “Alexander Hamilton” (Ron Chernow), the founding fathers fell off their pedestals and crashed into a heap of marble on the floor. Lady Liberty seemed to be weeping. Now, I am even more tempted to disengage from the whole of today’s mess and sip drinks on the beach in Mexico. I am not the first person to ask, “Why bother?” Yes, I finished the book feeling pessimistic about our future; however, I am happy I read “Alexander Hamilton.” Besides the glimpse into all the drama at the end of the 18th century, I learned in detail about the lives of the early American leaders and the structuring of our government. I would like to read Chernow’s biography of Washington but it is even longer, at 900 pages. Maybe next summer?

Ron Chernow signs his book “Alexander Hamilton” using a quill pen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Quill