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To: highball

I don't think you are giving the proper consideration to context. Hamilton was only infavor of as much Federal authority as was necessary to make the Union succeed, versus what existed at the time (which was nothing). Blaming him for the later growth of the Federal government is like blaming Jefferson for slavery.


22 posted on 01/18/2006 8:26:52 AM PST by Great Communicator
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To: Great Communicator

With all due respect, that's a terrible comparison. Slavery existed before Jefferson, while Hamilton was directly responsible for consolidating Federal power (through advocating replacing the weaker Articles of Confederation with a strong central government in the Constitution).

Again, that in no way diminishes my enthusiasm for the man. But I believe in acknowledging the roses and the thorns.

Hamilton was perhaps the most prescient Founding Father. He established the economic foundation of this great nation, and without him the country may well have fallen soon after its birth.

He was also much more comfortable with central Federal power than I am, and was at the center of the first sexual political scandal in the United States. He was an extremely complex man, and I celebrate that complexity.


23 posted on 01/18/2006 8:43:27 AM PST by highball ("I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." -- Thomas Jefferson)
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