As Treasury Secretary that Hamilton left his most disastrous mark in American history. Inspired by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Chief Finance Minister of the “Sun King” Louis XIV, Hamilton encouraged an economic policy consisting of a central bank, government subsidization of industry and protectionist tariffs. All though Hamilton himself was probably not corrupt while at the Treasury, his actions directly led to privileged men “in the know” to enrich themselves from his policy.
Before he was defeated in a dual Hamilton referred to the Constitution as “frail and worthless”. He was bitter that the country rejected his ideas of mercantilism and an all-powerful central government and spent his last years attacking Jefferson and Jefferson’s ideas of small government mainly through the newspaper he created which is known today as the New York Post. He belittled Jefferson and others who spoke too much of liberty; pushing the idea that America should rather pattern itself after the British, French, and Spanish empires.
Historian Jeff Taylor, wrote in his book; “Where Did the Party Go?”:
“Hamilton, under the influence of the two political theorists most distasteful to Jefferson, Hobbes and Hume, was frankly the champion of the Leviathan State.”
George Will wrote: “We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country”. Leftist writer Michael Lind edited an entire book of essays celebrating this fact entitled “Hamilton's Republic”. Neocon pundit David Brooks frequently writes a New York Times or Wall Street Journal op-ed celebrating the Hamiltonian political agenda, or urging a "revival" of the Hamiltonian agenda of more and bigger government. Neocon William Kristol is also a fan of Hamilton’s political theories.
I do not assert that Hamilton came to his political and economic beliefs out of any malice toward the people of the States. I only assert that his policies were, and are, wrong and have inevitably led to the mess we have today.
1- Hamilton’s proposals at the CC were NEGOTIATION points. He successfully pushed the final document in the direction of a stronger government. This was critical to the survival of the nation.
It also should be noted that at the CC Madison started out more Hamiltonian than Hamilton. It was HE who proposed making the states subordinate to the federal government, not Hamilton who believed they still had an important role in a federal structure though he was no friend of the inept and corrupt state governments.
2. Hamilton was NOT inspired by Colbert. He did propose to subsidize the creation of industry but that was necessary to counter the deformation of the American economy caused by prior imperialistic control of the economy. England wanted the colonies to be producers of primary goods and forbid the development of their industries. This was what needed to be rectified.
BTW the tariff enacted under Hamilton was mainly a revenue tariff only mildly protectionist. And the protective aspects were again to correct prior deformation of our economy.
3. Hamilton, at his death, was a very unhappy man. Not only was he unhappy at seeing the Liars take over because of the gullibility and stupidity of the voters but his personal life was in shambles. His eldest son had been killed by one of Burr’s vote thieves who had gone out of his way to slander his father provoking a duel. Upon Philip Hamilton’s death H.’s beautiful and talented daughter, Angelica, went insane and was mad for the rest of her life.
He foresaw the democratization which Jefferson’s victory presaged. THAT is the source of our current disaster not the brilliant and far-sighted policies of Hamilton.
4. The “Leviathan” state under Hamilton was TINY. Read a legitimate biography of Hamilton such as Forrest MacDonald’s. He also explains his financial policies and why they caused controversy (mainly because they worked against the interests of land speculators.)
5. Hamilton correctly pointed out that tyrants and demagogues are the ones who constantly spoke of “liberty”. Review the prosecution of Aaron Burr by Jefferson for an example of tyranny. You won’t believe it. I was once a great admirer of Jefferson until I actually started learning about his REAL beliefs and actions. No more.
6. The silliness of the charge of proposing a Leviathan state is clearly shown by reading what Hamilton actually wrote. Not only will you not find one word supportive of monarchy or aristocracy but you will find that Hamilton did believe that the British government combined the maximum SECURITY and FREEDOM and in NO way can be claimed to be a “Leviathan” state. It was a very haphazard affair in many ways and very inefficient.
7. Without the administration of Washington ( implementing Hamilton’s ideas) our nation probably would not have survived particularly had the Left (Jefferson) taken over immediately.