After reading Ron Chernow's excellent biography of Alexander Hamilton, I'm placing Hamilton at or near the top. I'm a huge fan of Jefferson and Adams but believe Hamilton had more impact than either one.
1) He was Washington's right hand man during the war and frequently was in charge of the army. It seems clear he was Washington's most trusted adviser before and after the war. He was Parcells' Belichick.
2) The impact of the Federalist Papers is well documented. Hamilton was easily the most productive of the founders. While Jefferson was toying with inventions and conspiring with the French, Hamilton was doing real work for the union.
3) He laid the foundation for our financial system and without his work the fledgling republic may have failed. He is in large part responsible for NY becoming the financial capital of the world.
There's no doubt it was a team effort with some incredibly capable and hard working men being at the right place and time in history. If Hamilton isn't the most influential, he is definitely the most underrated.
buford, I see you're all over it as usual.
MLK was anti-homosexual, at a time when practically everyone was anti-homosexual. Why is he a hero, but not someone before him that was racist, when everyone was racist.
If you apply that standard there is really no one suitable.
I'm not saying who should or shouldn't be a role model or given hero status, but your criteria seems selective.
Eliminate everyone who EVER opposed gay marriage and we may need a Constitutional amendment to lower the minimum age you have to be to be President.
As for GW not having kids ... what a shame. There are so many assholes in this country who felt the need to over populate the world with their weak seed. We need descendants of Washington ... and Einstein.
And Hulk Hogan!
Washington screwed him. SMH
Washington screwed him. SMH
Up until the part he sold out his country for cash and became one of the most notorious traitors in history.
Arnold got the shaft - no doubt about it - especially financially, and he was a great battlefield general but all of that is far overshadowed by his personal ego and his lack of moral compass. he belongs nowhere on the list of best founding fathers.
Inventions.
•Bifocals - I'm wearing a fucking pair.
•Electricity - FATHER OF ELECTRICITY. Come on.
•Lightning Rod
•Wave theory of light
•Franklin Stove - a KILLER design.
•Mapping the Gulf Stream - someone had to do it!
•Swim Fins
•Glass Armonica - look it up, it's awesome
•Flexible Urinary Catheter
•Odometer
Everything that I have read about Jefferson and his slaves shows not complexity but hipocrasy. This is a man who built his home to hide the slaves and there quarters that ran every aspect of his home. His treatment of young boys, separating them out, creating a separate workforce that would maximize his profits, shows that his nature was about him and his fortune. He was a man who could but aside his ideals for the purpose of his profit and would not lose any sleep over it. He purposefully countered his friend will that set that friends slaves free, in order not waste the opportunity to maximize the returns on those slaves. He was not complex, he was calculating, hypocritical, and down right evil. He knew slavery was wrong but became one of the institutions most ardent supporters for money.
Inventions.
•Bifocals - I'm wearing a fucking pair.
•Electricity - FATHER OF ELECTRICITY. Come on.
•Lightning Rod
•Wave theory of light
•Franklin Stove - a KILLER design.
•Mapping the Gulf Stream - someone had to do it!
•Swim Fins
•Glass Armonica - look it up, it's awesome
•Flexible Urinary Catheter
•Odometer
As well as being a world-class horn dog!
Understanding the times they lived in is fine. I am not one to judge base on just today's standard. My problem with Jefferson is that of all the founding father's he is the most idealistic and spoke highly of the equality of man. If you seem some of his writings it becomes quite difficult to try an reconcile that part of him with the other part that clearly cared for nothing more than making money on what he clearly knew was wrong. Not taking any thing away from him and his contributions but in Ranking him amongst the FF, I would place him at the bottom.
Hell, Lincoln said things that would be viewed as disgraceful today.
But the slavery discussion helps flesh out the entire narrative of great men with massive flaws.
Calling them hypocritical is sort of useless - everyone but me is hypocritical in some regard.
Hamilton was the only one really defending Arnold.
Hamilton was the only one really defending Arnold.
Not exactly. Arnold actually fought the court martial and won.
He spoke out about not being reimbursed for battles and military equipment he personally financed as well as compensation he felt he was owed.
Also, he felt slighted that lesser skilled battle commanders and contributors militarily were recognized and promoted ahead of him.
He won Fort Ticonderoga and was instrumental in Saratoga (among others) but often clashed with his superiors - for good reason usually.
but his treason far outweighs the positive, even though I understand his feelings and feel like he got hosed.
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and saw how they were filling their pockets and securing shady land deals while neglecting the soldiers who made sacrifices on the battlefield. Washington privately told him he was right and this would change. Instead he let those founding fathers talk him into going along with a court martial because they were blowing sweet nothings into Washington's ears. They hated Washington too.
Hamilton was the only one really defending Arnold.
Not exactly. Arnold actually fought the court martial and won.
He spoke out about not being reimbursed for battles and military equipment he personally financed as well as compensation he felt he was owed.
Also, he felt slighted that lesser skilled battle commanders and contributors militarily were recognized and promoted ahead of him.
He won Fort Ticonderoga and was instrumental in Saratoga (among others) but often clashed with his superiors - for good reason usually.
but his treason far outweighs the positive, even though I understand his feelings and feel like he got hosed.
and I believe Arnold represented himself at the court martial.
The Politician - With Humility and Grace set the Template for what the office of the President became.
Benjamin Franklin
Alexander Hamilton
Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
And yes us Caribbeans stick together...
Hamilton could have been president. There is a line in the Constitution saying a foreign born man could be president as long as they were alive during the signing of the Constitution. That was basically inserted by Hamilton so he could be president one day but you know the story...
Yeah being the richest country ever in history sucked for us.
Because he was killed. Also, Chernow paints a picture of him as an outsider among the other founders... a Washingtonian Federalist when the others were Jeffersonian Republicans. Also, he was Caribbean born, and from a low-born "illegitimate" background.
This is a joke, right?
You tell them they can even look at the bills...and they can or can't include the Two Dollar Bill...
You will always win the drink...since they always include Hamilton.
Without the Bank Bill the US may not have survived. When the bill expired in 20 years the economy tanked.
Hamilton is also known for this quote; it's better to remain silent and be thought a moron then to speak and remove any doubt.
John Adams
Jefferson
Ben Franklin
Hamilton
Have to say Adams and Jefferson did most of the heavy lifting and with Franklin were the political face of the Revolution.
Lots of others like John Hancock, John Jay, Henry Knox etc were also working hard to keep it together.
And he really didn't get involved in politics until he got hit in the bank account.
And Sam Adams had to kind of drag him into the political "game" kicking and screaming (if you believe what you read from that era).
Initially his biggest contributions were financial and I think at one point the war efforts wiped him out, but he was very good with $$ and came back.
He later became more involved, and on the relative scale he's absolutely one of the more interesting founding fathers, but I'd have to put him several notches below Sam Adams. Without Sam Adams there is no John Hancock.
Good call. I almost was duped again.
I forgot Hamilton personally wrote and submitted that bill and got Woodrow Wilson to sign it. And now our union is all the weaker since.
He made a hell of an automobile, too.
All of the founding fathers are amazing in their own right, though. They were brilliant, strong-willed, but also deeply flawed human beings. It's a shame so many people blindly idolize them (or, in many cases, project their own desires onto them) instead of recognizing that, while amazing, they also were not the be-all and end-all of what America should be.
Yeah...early form of too big to fail banking after several attempts then we needed the Jekyll island cabal and Aldrich duck hunt to seal it.
Guess we really find out how this ends in the future with ZIRP, helicopter Ben and wheelbarrows
Nothing like the power of the Fed Reserve inflation
As far as the musical wonder if it was also influence by Hamiltons tender writings to various SC gentlemen. Lol
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another nut job.
i have company?
You have never had a peer!
Miranda performs Alexander Hamilton at the White House in 2009
Cabinet Battle performed at White House in 2016