the revolutionary writings of Alexander Hamilton alexander hamilton the revolutionary writings of Alexander Hamilton (cid:1)(cid:2) (cid:3)(cid:4) Edited and with an Introduction by Richard B. Vernier With a Foreword by Joyce O. Appleby Liberty Fund indianapolis ThisbookispublishedbyLibertyFund,Inc.,afoundation establishedtoencouragestudyoftheidealofasocietyoffreeandresponsible individuals. Thecuneiforminscriptionthatservesasourlogoandas thedesignmotifforourendpapersistheearliest-knownwritten appearanceoftheword“freedom”(amagi),or“liberty.”Itistakenfroma claydocumentwrittenabout2300b.c.intheSumerian city-stateofLagash. Foreword,introduction,headnotes,annotations,index(cid:1)2008 LibertyFund,Inc. Frontispiece:AlexanderHamilton,c.1806,byJohnTrumbull(1756–1843), oiloncanvas.(cid:1)BoardofTrustees,NationalGalleryofArt,Washington. Reprintedbypermission. Coverart:AlexanderHamiltonbyCharlesWillsonPeale,fromlife,c.1790–1795. IndependenceNationalHistoricalPark.Reprintedbypermission. Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 1 3 5 7 9 c 10 8 6 4 2 1 3 5 7 9 p 10 8 6 4 2 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Hamilton,Alexander,1757–1804. TherevolutionarywritingsofAlexanderHamilton/editedandwithan introductionbyRichardB.Vernier;withaforewordbyJoyceO.Appleby. p.cm. Includesindex. isbn978-0-86597-705-1(alk.paper)—isbn978-0-86597-706-8(pbk.:alk.paper) 1. UnitedStates—Politicsandgovernment—1775–1783. 2. UnitedStates— Politicsandgovernment—1783–1809. 3. UnitedStates—History—Revolution, 1775–1783. 4. Hamilton,Alexander,1757–1804—Politicalandsocialviews. 5. Politicalscience—UnitedStates—History—18thcentury. I. Vernier,RichardB. II. Title. e302.h222008 973.4092—dc22 2006052800 LibertyFund,Inc. 8335AllisonPointeTrail,Suite300 Indianapolis,Indiana46250-1684 contents Foreword, by Joyce O. Appleby vii Introduction, by Richard B. Vernier xi Hamilton Chronology xxiii A Full Vindicationof the Measures of Congress, December 15, 1774 1 The Farmer Refuted, February 23, 1775 41 Remarks on the Quebec Bill number 1: June 15, 1775 141 number 2: June 22, 1775 145 Publius letter 1: October 19, 1778 157 letter 2: October 26, 1778 159 letter 3: November 16, 1778 162 The Continentalist number 1: July 12, 1781 169 number 2: July 19, 1781 172 number 3: August 9, 1781 176 number 4: August 30, 1781 182 number 5: April 18, 1782 187 number 6: July 4, 1782 194 Index 201 foreword Joyce O. Appleby Americans have an unusual relationship to the founding era of their nation. They not only revere their many Founding Fathers but study theirlivesandwritingswithgreatavidity.Curators,scholars,andpopular writersrespondtothistastewithexhibits,books,videos,andconferences. BicentennialcommemorationsoftheAmericanRevolutionbeganin1975 and continued annually with reenactments, tours, and TV shows. Al- exander Hamilton’s death at the hand of Aaron Burr prompteda major exhibit in New York City in 2005; the tricentennialofBenjaminFrank- lin’sbirthwasmarkedbyayear-longcelebrationinPhiladelphiain2006. Skepticscanverifythisfascinationby“googling”GeorgeWashington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Marshall, whose names pull up sites in the thousands. Online bookstores follow suit with hundreds of titles, many of which were written in the past decade. AlthoughmostoftheissuesandvaluesthatdividedAmerica’sleaders in the nation-building years of the late eighteenth century are remote from those that stir us today, the passions aroused by these old contests persist in the present. Readers often reveal a keen sense of partiality, if not partisanship, toward the revolutionary leaders.When Adamsisrid- ing high in popularity, esteem for Jefferson decreases. The sameapplies to Jefferson and Hamilton. As we move into a season of bicentennials of Marshall’s great decisions, these too will probably provoke criticism of his rivals, Jefferson and Madison. WhileclearlyaFoundingFatherofgreatsignificance,Hamiltonholds asomewhateccentricrelationshiptotheseothercentralfigures.Hedied young in a scandalous duel; he was never president; and his personal relations lacked the rectitude so noticeable in George Washington. He viii foreword might have fit in better in the British Parliament, where he could con- ceivably have found a place, given his birth in the Caribbean colony of Nevis.YetfewAmericanleadershaveeverbeenbetterlovedthanHam- iltonwasbytheyoungFederalistswholookedtohimtocarrythemback to their rightful place at the head of the nation until deathcutshorthis brilliant political career. What Hamilton had was genius, conspicuous even as a teenager.Ex- traordinary talent always attracts notice. Hamilton collected powerful patronsthewayotheryoungmenacquirebaddebts.Hisabundantgifts, wellwrappedinpersonaldiscipline,earnedhimapassagefromtheisland of St. Croix, where he worked as a shipping clerk, to New York Cityto studyatColumbia,thencalledKing’sCollege.ThereHamilton’squick- ness, wit, charm, and diligence won him a new group of enthusiastic backers who felt their faith in him well vindicated by his writings in support of the Patriot cause. InafewyearsHamiltonpassedfromanacademicprodigytothemost treasuredofGeorgeWashington’saides-de-camp.Makinghimselfnearly indispensable to Washington through his management of headquarters and report-writing,healsoputtogetheranintelligencenetworkofspies in New York City, which the British occupied throughout the war. De- spite Washington’s reliance upon Hamilton as a secretary of the first order, Hamilton yearned for military action. Elevated to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he managed to lead both an artilleryandaninfantry unitinimportantbattlesandfinishedhisarmycareerwithadaringattack on one of the British positions at Yorktown. Given to neither the studiousness of Madison nor the wide-ranging intellectual curiosity of Jefferson, Hamilton gravitated to the technical issues of governance. His moment came when Washington organized the first presidential administration under the new Constitution and chose him as secretary of thetreasury.No manintheUnitedStateswas as prepared as Hamilton to use the new federal powers to craft a series of mutually enhancing statutes dealing with taxes, trade, and the revo- lutionary debt. He possessed a strong political philosophy, congenial to foreword ix the Federalists who gravitated around Washington but at oddswiththe increasingly popular democratic sentiments that triumphed with Jeffer- son’s election in 1801 and the subsequent sweep of successive Congres- sional elections. As the writings of this volume so well reveal, Hamiltonwasanatural rhetorician in the best sense of that word. He wrote to persuade,notto show off, and he mastered that indispensable skill of a popular author: knowinghowtoclarifycomplicatedissueswithoutyieldingtodistorting simplifications. His archrival in Washington’s administration,Jefferson, paid reluctant tribute to Hamilton’s gifts when, in urging Madison to take up his pen to answer Hamilton’s newspaper essays,hecalledhima “mighty host.” In the earliest pieces we see the foundations of thatbril- liant career being set down and the contours of his core commitments established.Wecanalsobegintoseehowthosecommitmentsweregrad- ually adapted to embrace a more energetic vision of government by the time of the Continentalist essays. Understanding something of Hamil- ton’s early writings thus serves to illumine some of the reasons for the earliest political and constitutionalcontroversies of the republic. Hamilton epitomized what Jefferson feared in Federalist politics. When Hamilton had the chance to draft the economic policy for the nation,hereliedonwhathecalledthe“durableandpermanentexistence of rich and poor, debtor and creditor.” The wealthy few would develop new enterprises for the poor, whose lives would be regulated through their economic dependence and, if necessary, the master-servant provi- sions of the Common Law. Convinced of the need for leadership from disinterestedandeducatedgentlemen,Hamiltonrejectedthenotionthat ordinaryfarmers,storekeepers,andtinkerersmightjustaseffectivelyuse their resources for new, unsupervised ventures as wealthy entrepreneurs would.YetitwasthepoolofcapitalandfinancialstabilitythatHamilton createdthatenabledthosepettyentrepreneurstoprosperwhenJefferson became president. Illustrative of Hamilton’s socially conservative attitudes was his reac- tiontotheideaoftradehavingthecapacityofself-regulation.Herejected x foreword altogether the existence of a natural social harmony and called Adam Smith’sconviction,workedoutinTheWealthofNations,thatthenation could flourish without “a common directing power,” “one of those wild speculative paradoxes, which have grown into creditamongus,contrary to the uniform practice and sense of the most enlightened nations.” Like a master technician, Hamilton grasped the impinging details of thingsasdisorderedasthemishmashofstateandnationaldebtsleftafter eightyearsoffightingtherevolution.Eventospeakofdebtsistoimpose astabilityonwhatwasinfactajumbleofbonds,banknotes,IOUs,and requisitions of fluctuating value that had passed through hundreds of hands. Only a passion for this kind of fiscal management could entice anyone to take on such a staggering task as registering, calibrating,and streamliningthistangleofpapersintoastockissuethatwouldmakethe United States solvent. With supreme confidence in his proposed mea- sures, Hamilton turned a mass of bad debt into an asset by converting the debt into interest-bearingbonds that people wanted to purchase. ThefourgeniusesofAmericannation-building—Jefferson,Hamilton, Madison, and Marshall—found their way unerringly to their me´tiers: Madison, the constitution writer; Jefferson, the creator of a democratic polity;Marshall,thearchitectofliberaljurisprudence;andHamilton,the fiscalwizard.AllhadinterestingrelationshipswithGeorgeWashington, whosegreatvirtuesweremorepersonalandmoralthanintellectual.Their writingsandstoriesreflectthecharacterofthenationitself.It’shardnot to sharethe public’s delightinlearningaboutthemor,asinthiscase,in reading their own powerful words.