Alexander Hamilton

by Ron Chernow

The

Until this point, the colonies had been tantamount to separate countries, joined by little sense of common mission or identity. Now committees of correspondence in each colony began to communicate with one another, issuing calls for a trade embargo against British goods and summoning a Continental Congress in Philadelphia in September.

peroration,

Samuel Clossy also grew disgusted with the turmoil and returned to the British Isles.

Weird sentence, out of nowhere.

Seabury gave Hamilton what he always needed for his best work: a hard, strong position to contest.

Hamilton was motivated by a form of ambition much esteemed in the eighteenth century—what he later extolled as the “love of fame, the ruling passion of the noblest minds, which would prompt a man to plan and undertake extensive and arduous enterprises for the public benefit.”54 Ambition was reckless if inspired by purely selfish motives but laudable if guided by great principles.

He showed himself proficient at elegant insults, an essential literary talent at the time,

it was clear that he had found his calling as a fearless, swashbuckling intellectual warrior who excelled in bare-knuckled controversy.

Unlike Franklin or Jefferson, he never learned to subdue his opponents with a light touch or a sly, artful, understated turn of phrase.

Of all the incidents in Hamilton’s early life in America, his spontaneous defense of Myles Cooper was probably the most telling. It showed that he could separate personal honor from political convictions and presaged a recurring theme of his career: the superiority of forgiveness over revolutionary vengeance. Hamilton had shown exemplary courage.

Hamilton always expressed himself frankly, no matter what the consequences.

The Second Continental Congress lacked many of the prerequisites of an authentic government—an army, a currency, taxing power—yet it evolved in pell-mell fashion into the first government of the United States.

atavistic

sangfroid.

his horror at such mob disorder foreshadowed his fearful reaction to the French Revolution.

the central theme of his anti-“Farmer” essays that the colonies owed their fealty to the king, not to Parliament.

George Washington valued Nathanael Greene above all his other generals, and it was likely Greene who first touted Hamilton’s merits to Washington.

Something about Aaron Burr—his penchant for intrigue, a lack of sufficient deference, perhaps his insatiable chasing after women—grated on George Washington.

No colony had ever succeeded in breaking away from the mother country to set up a self-governing state, and the declaration signers knew that the historical odds were heavily stacked against them.

force majeure.

September 15,

Two weeks had passed.

Hamilton showed great fortitude and did not reach Harlem Heights until after dark, having walked the entire length of a thickly forested Manhattan in a drenching rain.

fillip

the boy genius

In many respects, the political alignments of 1789 were first forged in the appointment lists of the Revolution.

How rapidly Hamilton had acquired the confidence to function as Washington’s proxy! He already spoke in an authoritative voice and seemed to have few qualms about exercising his own judgment in Washington’s absence.

Washimgton probably sensed they thought alike, were of one mind, and wanted Hamilton to act in this way.

Washington towered over Hamilton by at least seven inches.

Washington had limited formal schooling, never attended college, and had trained as a surveyor as an adolescent. Famous later on for granite self-control, he had been a hot-tempered youth.

Washington tried to advance into polished society through a strenuous program of self-improvement. He learned to dance and dress properly, read biographies and histories, and memorized rules of deportment from a courtesy manual. Like Hamilton, the young Washington saw military fame as his vehicle for ascending in the world.

Sensitive to slights, Washington chafed under the British condescension toward colonial officers and never forgot his experience as aide-de-camp to the abusive, pigheaded General Edward Braddock. Early disappointments with people left Washington with a residual cynicism that was to jibe well with Hamilton’s views.

Washington also brought extensive political experience to his military command, having served for fifteen years in the Virginia House of Burgesses and having attended the First and Second Continental Congresses.

The relationship between Washington and Hamilton was so consequential in early American history—rivaled only by the intense comradeship between Jefferson and Madison—that it is difficult to conceive of their careers apart.

twenty-two years together.

Washington possessed the outstanding judgment, sterling character, and clear sense of purpose needed to guide his sometimes wayward protégé; he saw that the volatile Hamilton needed a steadying hand. Hamilton, in turn, contributed philosophical depth, administrative expertise, and comprehensive policy knowledge that nobody in Washington’s ambit ever matched. He could transmute wispy ideas into detailed plans and turn revolutionary dreams into enduring realities. As a team, they were unbeatable and far more than the sum of their parts.

Nonetheless, the two men had clashing temperaments and frequently showed more mutual re...

In fact, Washington wasn’t nonchalant and could be exacting and quick to take offense.

Washington was extremely fond of Hamilton,

He had misgivings about Washington as a military leader—the general did lose the majority of battles he fought in the Revolution—but not about him as a political leader.

he would never openly criticize Washington,

Most of Washington’s field orders have survived in Hamilton’s handwriting.

During his first weeks on Washington’s staff, Hamilton began building a network that became the foundation of his future political base at home. He agreed to update New York politicians about military affairs and exchanged twice-weekly reports with a newly appointed body called the New York Committee of Correspondence, placing him in regular contact with leaders such as Gouverneur Morris, John Jay, and Robert R. Livingston.

Though past horrors would always lurk somewhere in his psyche, he spent the rest of his life in the upper stratum of American society,

Hamilton was girl crazy and brimming with libido. Throughout his career, at unlikely moments, he tended to grow flirtatious, almost giddy, with women.

quixotic

Captain Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee (father of Robert E. Lee),

Colonel Hugh Hughes

he was nourished on a hearty diet of mutton, oranges, potatoes, quail, and partridge.

a moody Irishman named Thomas Conway,

“There does not exist a more villainous calumniator or incendiary,”

Wilkinson—a flamboyant character with an incurable weakness for liquor, intrigue, and bombast—had