“Let me tell you what I wish I’d known when I was young and dreamed of glory: you have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story.”
– Hamilton, An American Musical
Sometimes vindication and fame come a little late.
Alexander Hamilton would appreciate this fact. Despite featuring on the $10 bill (a privilege he may soon be losing), the youngest of the Founding Fathers has been (until recently) supremely undervalued for all that he accomplished on behalf of our country.
To read off a little of his resume, he was Washington’s aide-de-camp during the Revolution, and an active participant in writing the Constitution. He penned 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers that rallied support to the Constitution and the new form of government it embodied (they are still used today in court as a source of Constitutional interpretation). He was America’s first Secretary of Treasury, rendering us stable economically, establishing America’s good credit, and making us an international contender in the financial sector. He founded New York’s first bank, the first National Bank, and America’s first political party. He personally saw to Thomas Jefferson’s election as president. He also founded the Coast Guard.
He accomplished all of this as a bastard immigrant from impoverished circumstances before dying at the age of 49.
I never cease to be amazed by Alexander Hamilton – he was the ultimate wildcard. No other founding father came from such a complete disadvantage, and absolutely no one saw him coming…kind of like a certain spectacle that debuted recently in New York.
But I will get to that in a minute. In the meantime, let me give you the skinny on Hamilton’s unexpected rise to prominence.
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