Alexandra’s Reviews > Alexander Hamilton > Status Update

In private, no one railed more against the preferential treatment of French aristocrats than Hamilton, who was later so freely branded an ‘aristocrat’ by rivals. At the same time, he saw that an aristocratic class could contain progressive members and that republican wisdom wasn’t a monopoly held by mechanics and tradesmen.”

“It was the bane of Hamilton’s service that he had to draft numerous letters to Congress, requesting promotions for undeserving Frenchmen. If Congress spurned these requests, then he had to apply balm to the wounded suitors through oily compliments. Hamilton once told John Jay that he wrote these letters to shield Washington from the invariable resentment of rejected Frenchmen.