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And Hamilton didn't have a well deserved reputation for hitting on other men's wives, didn't have capital A Ambition and didn't die in a duel. You are right about the Jeffersonian heritage of the RAT party, so I can hardly say he was perfect. Hint: no one is. What I value in his service to the US and in his writings is his concern with human liberty. That I value very highly. So if the quote I entered earlier was from 1787, does that make it half OK, since that is between 1776 and 1802.

The only wife H. "hit on" of which I am aware was Mrs. Reynolds and that appears to have been a honey trap set by his enemies. He was dumb enough to fall into it. His ambition was to make the United States a great and powerful nation. He sacrificed everything to that end.

I referred to his death at the hands of Burr (a totally contemptable man whom he supported J. against to win the presidency) in an earlier post.

Hamilton's great ambition was to be a man of honor. There are few instances in history of a man coming from such a dismal prospect to do so much as he. Personal ambition was no greater than most of his contemporaries. His brilliance and integrity was the reason W. considered him the son he never had.

J. was the greatest rhetoritician of the revolution even though the Declaration was not entirely (or mainly) original. My real beef with him is his anti-military positions and the creation of a political party specifically to thwart Hamilton. Madison turned his back on his former friend and his views of the danger of "factions" by joining J. after about 1790.