The newspapers were driven
by partisanship, some supported by the Republicans, others supported by the Federalists.
News was filled with innuendo, venomous personal attacks and outright
fabrications, ‘fake news’. Many of the most qualified citizens refused to serve
in public office, not wishing to live with the inevitable scrutiny and character
assassination. Party leaders were
accused of colluding with foreign powers, Hamilton with the British and
Jefferson with the French. The welfare
of some foreign economies was tied to the American economy. Foreign agents,
especially foreign journalists, were suspected of meddling in American politics
in order to influence government policy and election outcome. It all sounds eerily
familiar.
Jefferson had his
admirers and detractors. To his
admirers, he was a great scholar and philosopher, author of the Declaration of Independence,
spokesperson for religious tolerance and advocate for the rights of all
men. To his detractors, he was a Revolutionary
War coward, an inflexible ideologue, a slave owner and hypocrite.
Hamilton, too, had his
admirers and detractors. To his admirers, he was a Revolutionary War hero, constitutional
theorist, advisor and confidant to George Washington, and visionary first Secretary
of the Treasury. To his detractors he was brash, egotistical, ill-tempered, power
hungry, and indiscrete in his personal affairs.
Historians continue to weigh
the merits and faults of these two antagonists, these two founding fathers. Jefferson and Hamilton continue to have their admirers and detractors. Based on what I’ve read, here’s what I think. Each of them had significant flaws, significant shortcomings. Yet each was an original, a brilliant and
visionary thinker. Each was a towering leader during a perilous time in American history, a time when the new country needed brilliant and visionary leadership. The challenge
they faced was not how to ‘make America great again’. Their challenge, more difficult yet simply
put, was how to make America.
Currently, Hamilton’s star is rising, his reputation resurrected in Ron Chernow’s biography Alexander Hamilton and the Broadway show it has inspired. Now, having read the book, I look forward to someday seeing the stage interpretation of Hamilton, the musical. That’s a rap.
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