The Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton: The Life and Legacy of America's Most Elusive Founding Father

by Douglas Ambrose (Editor), Robert W. T. Martin (Editor)

Overview

Revolutionary War officer, co-author of the Federalist Papers, our first Treasury Secretary, Thomas Jefferson’s nemesis, and victim of a fatal duel with Aaron Burr: Alexander Hamilton has been the focus of debate from his day to ours. On the one hand, Hamilton was the quintessential Founding Father, playing a central role in every key debate and event in the Revolutionary and Early Republic eras. On the other hand, he has received far less popular and scholarly attention than his brethren. Who was he really and what is his legacy?
Scholars have long disagreed. Was Hamilton a closet monarchist or a sincere republican? A victim of partisan politics or one of its most active promoters? A lackey for British interests or a foreign policy mastermind? The Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton addresses these and other perennial questions. Leading Hamilton scholars, both historians and political scientists alike, present fresh evidence and new, sometimes competing, interpretations of the man, his thought, and the legacy he has had on America and the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814707142
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2006
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Douglas Ambrose is Sidney Wertimer, Jr. associate professor of history at Hamilton College, in Clinton, New York. He is the author of Henry Hughes and Proslavery Thought in the Old South.

Robert W. T. Martin is associate professor of government at Hamilton College and author of The Free and Open Press (NYU Press, 2001).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1 Introduction: The Life and Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton
Douglas Ambrose
Part I: The Contest with Jefferson
2 “Opposed in Death as in Life”: Hamilton and Jefferson in American Memory
Stephen Knott
3 The Hamiltonian Invention of Thomas Jefferson
Robert M. S. McDonald
4 Alexander Hamilton’s View of Thomas Jefferson’s Ideology and Character
James H. Read
Part II: Hamilton’s Republicanism
5 Reforming Republicanism: Alexander Hamilton’s Theory of Republican Citizenship and Press Liberty
Robert W. T. Martin
6 Understanding the Confusing Role of Virtue in The Federalist: The Rhetorical Demands of Two Audiences
Barry Alan Shain
7 Madison versus Hamilton: The Battle over Republicanism and the Role of Public Opinion
Colleen A. Sheehan
Part III: Hamilton’s Legacies
8 Alexander Hamilton and the 1790s Economy: A Reappraisal
Carey Roberts
9 Hamilton and Haiti
Daniel G. Lang
10 Hamilton, Croly, and American Public Philosophy
Peter McNamara
11 Epilogue: Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, and the Spirit of Capitalism
John Patrick Diggins
Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Paul A. Rahe

"Talleyrand, who was acquainted with all of the statesmen of Europe, once remarked that he had never encountered anyone 'equal to Alexander Hamilton.' Hamilton may, in fact, have been the greatest of the American Founding Fathers. He was certainly one of the most important. Despite this, he has rarely been given his due. This superb collection of essays goes a considerable distance towards redressing the balance and towards restoring an American statesman to the central place that he occupied in his own time."
—author of Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution

From the Publisher

“Scholars whose interests include the political, diplomatic, and economics aspects of the early republic will find these works rewarding additions to their reading.”
-Journal of the Early Republic

,

“This book . . . achiev[es] a badly needed analysis of Hamilton's impact on his and later times.”
-The Historian

,

“Talleyrand, who was acquainted with all of the statesmen of Europe, once remarked that he had never encountered anyone ‘equal to Alexander Hamilton.’ Hamilton may, in fact, have been the greatest of the American Founding Fathers. He was certainly one of the most important. Despite this, he has rarely been given his due. This superb collection of essays goes a considerable distance towards redressing the balance and towards restoring an American statesman to the central place that he occupied in his own time.”
-Paul A. Rahe,author of Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution

“Here are many fresh thoughts by many of the most innovative scholars at work on Alexander Hamilton today. Every student of the new republic and many general readers who are captivated by the subject will want to read this volume.”
-Lance Banning,author of Conceived in Liberty: The Struggle to Define the New Republic, 1789-1793

-

Lance Banning

"Here are many fresh thoughts by many of the most innovative scholars at work on Alexander Hamilton today. Every student of the new republic and many general readers who are captivated by the subject will want to read this volume."
—author of Conceived in Liberty: The Struggle to Define the New Republic, 1789-1793

Editorial Reviews

"This book . . . achiev[es] a badly needed analysis of Hamilton’s impact on his and later times."

The Historian

"Scholars whose interests include the political, diplomatic, and economics aspects of the early republic will find these works rewarding additions to their reading."

Journal of the Early Republic

"Here are many fresh thoughts by many of the most innovative scholars at work on Alexander Hamilton today. Every student of the new republic and many general readers who are captivated by the subject will want to read this volume."

Lance Banning

This book . . . achiev[es] a badly needed analysis of Hamilton’s impact on his and later times.”
-The Historian

“Scholars whose interests include the political, diplomatic, and economics aspects of the early republic will find these works rewarding additions to their reading.”
-Journal of the Early Republic

“Here are many fresh thoughts by many of the most innovative scholars at work on Alexander Hamilton today. Every student of the new republic and many general readers who are captivated by the subject will want to read this volume.”
-Lance Banning,author of Conceived in Liberty: The Struggle to Define the New Republic, 1789-1793

“Talleyrand, who was acquainted with all of the statesmen of Europe, once remarked that he had never encountered anyone ‘equal to Alexander Hamilton.’ Hamilton may, in fact, have been the greatest of the American Founding Fathers. He was certainly one of the most important. Despite this, he has rarely been given his due. This superb collection of essays goes a considerable distance towards redressing the balance and towards restoring an American statesman to the central place that he occupied in his own time.”
-Paul A. Rahe,author of Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution

From the Publisher

"Talleyrand, who was acquainted with all of the statesmen of Europe, once remarked that he had never encountered anyone & equal to Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton may, in fact, have been the greatest of the American Founding Fathers. He was certainly one of the most important. Despite this, he has rarely been given his due. This superb collection of essays goes a considerable distance towards redressing the balance and towards restoring an American statesman to the central place that he occupied in his own time."

Paul A. Rahe