What we now call the First American Party System was birthed over an economic crisis and two huge personalities. During Washington’s presidency the economy ranked as one of his most important issues. The new nation and the individual states faced series debt from the Revolution both from foreign nations and American citizens. The man tasked to face this crisis was Washington’s protégé, Alexander Hamilton. When I was a young professor starting out, I spent at least half a day if not more introducing my students to the founding father I felt was most responsible for the nation as it is today. He only played a small role in America’s freedom; his contribution came after the war with the creation of our government. When I was first teaching, Hamilton had become an obscure founder on the ten-dollar bill that needed explaining. Now I just say America’s favorite rapping founding father and most of the class knows all the words to his play. A man who was ignored for a century on purpose is now most students’ favorite Founder Father.I am going to assume that most know Hamilton’s background by now, there is an entire song about it, and simply focus on three key things that are important about his upbringing in the Caribbean. One, he was clearly brilliant, and his writing was impressive. Two, while working for his uncle’s import business he learned the ways of the British economic system and respected it. Three, he was one of only five men to have not been born in America and the most recent immigrant. That allowed him to be an American first instead of a Virginian, a Pennsylvanian or a whateverian, which could have prompted his allegiance more to the nation than a state.At heart, Hamilton was a classical conservative. While he supported America’s desire for independence, he still wanted to retain much of what made the British Empire great. He believed a strong central government was the key to protecting the American experiment’s future. The reason Hamilton even chose the position of Secretary of the Treasury over State was he felt that office could best help him carry out his plan of strengthening the weaknesses that he saw in the Constitution and the federal government. His economic plan, known as Reports on Public Credit, wanted to tie the wealthy and powerful to the government to build its strength. Add that to ...
