On Hamilton,
In his book on the insurrection, Findley—a bitter political foe of Hamilton—maintained that the treasury secretary had deliberately provoked the uprising by issuing the subpoenas just before the law was made less onerous.[46] In 1963, historian Jacob Cooke, an editor of Hamilton's papers, regarded this charge as "preposterous", calling it a "conspiracy thesis" that overstated Hamilton's control of the federal government.[47] In 1986, historian Thomas Slaughter argued that the outbreak of the insurrection at this moment was due to "a string of ironic coincidences", although "the question about motives must always remain".[48] In 2006, William Hogeland portrayed Hamilton, Bradford, and Rawle as intentionally pursuing a course of action that would provoke "the kind of violence that would justify federal military suppression".[49] According to Hogeland, Hamilton had been working towards this moment since the Newburgh Crisis in 1783, where he conceived of using military force to crush popular resistance to direct taxation, for the purpose of promoting national unity and enriching the creditor class at the expense of common taxpayers.[50]
I have a history book from 1932 that says Hamilton was picking a fight.
I completely agree with your assessments of Hamilton and to a lesser degree Madison’s motives but central_va’s reference was indeed to Gettysburg and he is correct! That is where states rights ended. At least for 150 years that is! I currently see glimmers of a reassertion of those rights beginning to appear on the horizon.