Bruce’s Reviews > Alexander Hamilton > Status Update
Bruce
is on page 127 of 818
1780: "In NY Bay, the ice froze so thick that the British Army was able to wheel heavy artillery across it.. A January blizzard piled snow in 6' high banks. For Washington, [Morristown] was the war's nadir, a winter even more depressing than the one at Valley Forge. The snowstorms shut off roads and blocked provisions, leading to looting among troops freezing in log huts. Men mutinied and deserted in large numbers."
— Aug 24, 2015 08:33AM
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Bruce’s Previous Updates
Bruce
is on page 718 of 818
Veep Aaron Burr on the run: "As president of the Senate, Burr was to preside over the impeachment trial of Samuel Chase, an... associate justice of the Supreme Court who had... been charged... under the Sedition Act.... In other words, 'a man under indictment for MURDER presided at the trial of one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, accused of a petty misdemeanor!' Did a good job, too.
— Sep 22, 2015 07:40PM
Bruce
is on page 508 of 818
Washington asked James Madison to draft up a farewell speech for him he didn't use in 1796, then turned to Hamilton to rewrite it from scratch in 1800. That one, he (contributed to and) used, to lasting credit and fame. Now, there's a man that knew how to delegate and to whom.
— Sep 22, 2015 07:34PM
Bruce
is on page 494 of 818
Defending the Jay Treaty: "Hamilton was not content to write as Camillus alone. Two days after his second essay appeared, he began to publish... a parallel series as 'Philo Camillus.' For several weeks, Philo Camillus indulged in extravagant praise of Camillus and kept up a running attack on their Republican adversaries. The prolific Hamilton was now writing pseudonymous commentaries on his own pseudonymous essays."
— Sep 22, 2015 07:31PM
Bruce
is on page 416 of 818
Confronting Hamilton with charges of corruption, Congressmen Muhlenberg, Venable, and (James!) Monroe are instead treated to overshares of 'exculpatory' evidence of adultery and blackmail. Awkward! "At least one of them 'delicately urged me to discontinue it as unnecessary... I insisted upon going through the whole and did so.'" So they leave embarrassed and in a hurry.
— Sep 22, 2015 04:23PM
Bruce
is on page 376 of 818
Hamilton's report on native manufacturing is a bit pollyanna-ish: "Of the productive British cotton mills, he commented: 'It is worthy of particular remark that, in general, women and children are rendered more useful, and the latter more early useful by manufacturing establishments than they otherwise would be." Meh. What was good for the goose?
— Sep 22, 2015 04:14PM
Bruce
is on page 349 of 818
Hamilton founds the 1st Bank of the US (in Philadelphia), triggering a speculative bubble & (barely averted) crash. Yeah, he pulled it out through behind-the-scenes buys by his own Bank of NY, but US has yet to learn from this. Hamilton didn't. And how might history have been different had he proposed placing it in Charleston, SC or Atlanta, GA? Forget "pure" capitalism. Managed economy is really hard to get right.
— Sep 04, 2015 08:55PM
Bruce
is on page 340 of 818
To curb smuggling and bring customs duties into federal coffers, Hamilton invents the Coast Guard, in the process issuing a directive against overbearing searches and seizures. "So masterly was Hamilton's directive about boarding foreign vessels that it was still being applied during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis."
— Sep 04, 2015 08:47PM
Bruce
is on page 283 of 818
Surgeons operate sans anesthetic to remove a 'malignant carbuncle' from Washington's left thigh in June of 1789, the presiding surgeon exclaiming, "Cut away... Deep--deeper--deeper still. Don't be afraid. You will see how well he bears it!" An event all would-be stoics would do well to anticipate.
— Sep 04, 2015 08:44PM
Bruce
is on page 267 of 818
Founder shock: In Virginia, "['Give me freedom or give me death'] Patrick Henry, the leading antifederalist, warned delegates who supported the Constitution, 'They'll free your niggers.'" Henceforward, I don't want to hear any strict constructionist citing Henry in defense of the Constitution. That louse opposed it on the basest of terms.
— Aug 29, 2015 09:41AM
Bruce
is on page 240 of 818
Founder fun: "John Jay wrote of the randy Morris, 'Gouverneur's leg has been a tax on my heart. I am almost tempted to wish he had lost something else. Morris's peg leg did not seem to detract from his sexual appeal and may even have enhanced it."
— Aug 29, 2015 09:36AM