Transcripts For CSPAN3 Alexander Hamiltons Legacy 20160905

That happened in 1804, at the young age of 47. Im rand scholet, president of the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society, or for short the aha society. We had many discoveries and we just revealed three new ones this past thursday at liberty hall. Check online for that. The aha Society Needs to give a special thanks to a number of organizations that made this program possible today. Especially Trinity Church, who hosts this, partners with great spirit and support, the congregant, the u. S. Coast guard and auxiliary, as you heard mentioned that Alexander Hamilton was the founder of the u. S. Coast guard. And the members of the aha society and the board of directors all worked hard to bring this together. We had 32 events in 20 locations over 10 days. And it took everyones support and encouragement. The aha society joins with you to honor Alexander Hamiltons life and his legacy. In that light, well be presenting the first hamilton legacy award to Richard Brookhiser for his two decades of work to educate the public about Alexander Hamilton. The revival of interest in Alexander Hamilton in the 21st century can be traced to mr. Brookhisers work. Ill give you four examples. Number one, after reading about and studying and writing a book on George Washington, mr. Brookhiser saw there is someone a righthand aid and man in his life, and wrote a tremendous book in 1999. The book is only 220 pages long. That deserves an award. If you can tell Alexander Hamiltons life and all the dimensions of it in 220 pages, it is magnificent. The other thing we really appreciate about mr. Brookhiser, it really gets the true hamilton. And going to the primary sources, it has been really helpful to the cause of looking for people to learn about the accurate characterization of Alexander Hamilton where many of us didnt hear about him until a couple of years ago because of the mischaracterization. We thank him for that book. Really was quite the accomplishment. Number two, mr. Brookhiser was a historian curator for Alexander Hamilton, the man who made modern america, which was displayed at the New York Historical society in 2004. How many were able to see that . Good. He worked with jim basker and nicole siri and then there were Alexander Hamilton exhibit panels that were produced. And it was so exciting, we went down to where Alexander Hamilton was born and there were the panels. We were at the Patterson Museum yesterday. Sorry, sunday, and there were those panels. So articulately tell the story of all of the dimensions of Alexander Hamiltons life. Number three, mr. Brookhiser worked with pbs to write and host an innovative documentary called rediscovering Alexander Hamilton in 2011. All of these resources created a foundation from years ago that resu resulted in great scholarship and content of much renown. They have become the core resource material this year, you may have heard, the support of the gilda institute, along with rockefeller foundation, and the hamilton musical all came together to serve 20,000 students to see that over 18 months in matinees. That rich content was because of the work of mr. Brookhiser over many years. This quite hamilton legacy, mr. Brookhiser. Because of the original continued efforts to share Alexander Hamiltons story, Richard Brookhiser is very deserving as the first recipient of the hamilton legacy award. Which reads, Richard Brookhiser is presented with the award for dedication to educating the public about the contributions of Alexander Hamilton to the United States of america. The Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society 2016. Lets thank Richard Brookhiser. [ applause ] thank you so much. The Founding Fathers were a very practical generation and hamilton being among the most practical. And they knew that true ideals were vital. You had to have them. Theyre not enough. They have to be made real in the world. You have to work for them. And the same is true of memory. We have to remember what we have done right, have to remember what we have done wrong, but memory is not automatic. It has to be informed and it has to be cherished and encouraged. And the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society does splendid work in that regard and it is a great honor to be recognized by them. Thank you. [ applause ] in the hamilton musical, it ends with a profound perspective and a set of questions. Who lives who dies who tells your story i like to answer those in three parts. Who lives . We all live in hamiltons america. As it was Alexander Hamilton that created the vision and shaped the foundations of how the United States of america, achieved greatness. Who dies . On this day, july 12th, 212 years ago, Alexander Hamilton died, defending his honor. Such that as he would say, to be in the future, useful. In 18 minutes will be marked the 2 00 passing of Alexander Hamilton. After 30 years from his injury from the duel. He often chose the nations wellbeing over his physical, financial and familys wellbeing. Who tells your story . Were most privileged to have Richard Brookhiser tell the story. Alexander hamilton, the man who made america prosperous. Ladies and gentlemen, Richard Brookhiser. [ applause ] so how did hamilton make america prosperous . I think we have to look at three things. We have to look at the ark of his life, where he came from, and where he went. And then we have to review what he did at the height of his life. And then we have to consider what inspired him, what most moved him. Hamilton, as you know, was an immigrant, and there were several other immigrants among the Founding Fathers. Horatio gates, robert morris, james wilson. But these other men all came from the british isles. Hamilton was the unique immigrant from the west indies. Born on the island of nives, raised on the island of st. Croix in the virgin islands. And the west indies in hamiltons lifetime, mid to late 18th century, was like the middle east today. It was the place where the thing that everyone wanted came from. Today thats oil in the 18th century that was sugar. The wealth that was generated by west indian sugar was fantastic. When hamilton was 6 years old, 1763, the french and indian war ended, also called the seven years war. And at the end of this world war between britain and france, britain had conquered so many of frances colonies that they had to give some back. They couldnt possibly hold all that they had won. So this was a serious debate in the british government, should we keep canada or the island of guadeloupe. Half of north america or one sugar producing island . They decided to give back guadeloupe and they were fiercely criticized by the British Business community. How could they have done this. My canada is only snow. Guadeloupe is a sugar island. Thats where real money is being made. That was a sign of huh vow valu the islands were. Hamilton saw the commerce generated from the ground up, this first job in christian stead in st. Croix was for a merchant house, called beakman and kruger, headquartered in new york city, it had branches in the west indies, and another branch in bristol, england. The kruger who ran the Bristol Branch ended up becoming a member of parliament and represented britain with edmond burk. Thats another sign of the importance of the sugar trade and the wealth that it generated. Hamilton was not bound for parliament, he was a clerk in a store. But he saw from the bottom, from the ground up, how trading was done, how money circulated, how deals were made. He also saw the enormous disparities in the holding of this wealth. Most of this money went to planters. Many of them didnt even live in the islands where their plantations were. Jane mansfields novel, there is a plantation owner in antigua and he comes back to england from antigua. Many of the planters never left england or france or home countries and islands were run by overseers. Beneath the planter class there was a Small Service class. Agents, merchants, few professionals. This was the class to which hamilto hamiltons parents belonged, James Hamilton and rachel. But the vast bulk of the population was slaves. The population of nives when hamilton lived there was 10,000 slaves, 500 white people. Population of st. Croix was 22,000 slaves, 2,000 white people. The average life span of a field hand who was brought to the west indies from africa, was seven years before he was worked to death or before he died of diseases. But the planters were not so concerned with that because there was always another slave ship coming in. Beakman and kruger sometimes dealt in slaves, when hamilton lived in nives, he lived just down the street from a large pen, where the slaves fresh from africa were held before they were sorted out and put on smaller ships and sent throughout the west of the british west indies. So this was the social system that hamilton grew up in. Heavily skewed, no opportunity to rise. He managed to get out because of his own brilliance and because of his luck. He was a very smart boy and smart young man, his employers recognized that. So did the local minister and christian stead man named hugh knox, he had connections in the north american when hamilton was a teenager, he was sent to north america to be educated. The plan was to get him trained as a doctor, and he would come back to the islands and practice. And the first plan was to send him to the college of new jersey, now princeton, that didnt work. So he went to kings college, now columbia and which was then just up broadway from this building. This is the second important location in hamiltons life. The fact that he came here to new york rather than to philadelphia or boston, which were the other significant cities in british north america, philadelphia was the largest. New york had passed boston to become second and was gaming on philadelphia. They were all commercial cities. But boston and philadelphia had been founded as holy cities. They were religious experiments. Boston was the city on the hill. Philadelphia was the city of brotherly love. And some of that atmosphere still clung to them. But new york was always and only about getting and spending. The dutch had founded it as new amsterdam, as a trading post, to take furs from the iroquois indians and ship them back to holland. As the fur traffic died and withered, they traded other things. The english acquired the city, but it kept its character. Im sure you all know the founding myth of new york, that was that it was bought from the interians for 24 of beads and trinkets and tools by peter minuet in 1624. And the way it is told, they were cheated. They gave up Manhattan Island and the land is worth billions and billions now. But i have heard some tellings of the myth in which the indians who sold manhattan didnt actually live here, they were just passing through. So there may have been some double dealing on both sides. But smiths always tell a truth. And the truth of that myth is that the soul of new york is commerce. Thats why people live here to make it, to get ahead. Hamilton was coming from one commercial place to another very commercial place. It was also a more equal place, by no means a paradise, new york was a slave city and a slave colony. When hamilton came here, the population of the city was about one sixth slave. And they worked as house servants, also worked on the small farms and what is now brooklyn and queens. It is doubly bound to slavery, because what was grown and produced on the farmz, the food, the timber, the fabric, was shipped to the west indies to be used by the slaves and the owners of the slaves there. So there was still slavery here in new york. But there were other things going on. There was a lot of commerce, there was also some manufacturing. It wasnt supposed it happen up der the british mercantile system. According to that, all manufacturing was to be done in england in the home country and shipped out to the colonies, but the people got around the rules and the laws as i hear they still do in new york. And so there was manufacturing here then. So hamilton came from a place that marked him and he moved to a place that continued to mark him. He never graduated from columbia, the revolution had happened and he left his college to fight. He started in a student militia company, then he became a captain of an artillery company. He was noticed by George Washington, put on a staff as a colonel where he served for four years and then finally at the end of the fighting, he was given a field command at the battle of york town. After the war, he came back to new york, he made his money as a lawyer, but he also briefly served in the new York Assembly and in the continental congress. He was sent as a delegate to the constitutional convention, philadelphia, in 1787. He wasnt very regular in his attendance. After the constitution was written, he took up the job of campaigning for it in the newspapers and here his performance was stellar. He organized the series of essays, we would now call them op oped pieces in the new york newspapers. New york was crucial because it had an anticonstitution governor but a central location. If new york stayed out of the country, new england would be split off from the rest of the country. So new york was a must win state. Hamilton found two collaborators, james madison, a colleague of his from the continental congress, john jay, an older man, former diplomat and spy master. And the three of them wrote 85 essays for the new york newspaper. Jay got sick early on, so he only wrote five. Madison wrote 29. Hamilton wrote 51. These essays came out at a rate of four a week, they reached 2,000 words long. Some weeks there were five, one week there was six. Columnists in the New York Times today, paul krugman, david brooks, they write 750 words twice a week. So this was greater frequency, greater length, and also immortal. After the constitution was ratified, George Washington had to pick a first treasury secretary he first asked robert morris, who had run the finances of the country during the second half of the revolution. Morris was the richest man in america, but didnt want to do Public Service again, wanted to make money. So he recommended Alexander Hamilton saying he was sharp. Washington knew that already. Hamilton had been on his staff. So he becomes the first treasury secretary of the United States, september 1789 when hes 32 years old. Now we come to what he did at the climax of his life. The problem that he faced was debt. Wars cost money. And the United States had no money. We had gone through the war eight and a half year of war, longest war we fought until vietnam. Longer than the civil war and our portion of world war ii put together. But we couldnt pay for it. The government under the articles of confederation could not tax the states. They could ask the states for money and if the states wouldnt pay or couldnt pay, they didnt have to pay. Robert morris said at one point that asking the states for money was like preaching to the dead. So they did other things. They printed paper money. And as unbacked paper money always does, it inflated a way until it was almost worthless. Then they called in all the old dollars, said 40 old dollar will be worth one new one. They issued new money but that inflated in turn. They kited their bills. They did funny stuff with their creditors. They took out loans, they took out loans from the rich people who existed in america, they got lones from dutch bankers. They got loans from france and they scaped through at the end of the war the soldiers marching to york town would not have got there because they had not been paid, but a french ship filled with silver was part of the armada that came to participate in the campaign and the campaign was funded and america won its final victory. After the war, 1783, the larder was truly bare. Our debt was trading in europe and amsterdam and antwerp. What did hamilton do . He had going for him the fact that the new constitution did a lot of the federal government to raise taxes. That was a plus. How would the money be spent . He made two early decisions, of great consequence. One was called assumption and the other was called nondiscrimination. Sum hgs to assumption had to do with the fact there wasnt one american debt but 14. Debts owe the by the United States and debts owed by each of the 13 states. The 13 states raised their own troops, made their own expenses on the war and some of them were badly in arrears. Massachusetts in particular and also south carolina. There was ill feeling among the states because some of the states paid off their debts and they thought why should we take on obligations by the deadbeat states . Not all the states who paid their debts had done it honestly. In north carolina, they announced they would knock off 20 of all their debts and pay the rest. Rhode island printed paper money. There was a lot of suffering and sharp dealing on all sides. Hamiltons argument was that the war was a common struggle. All the stakes were fighting together for the liberty of all, for the whole country. So he assumed the debts of the 13 states along with the federal debt. They would all be treated as one debt, paid off at the same time. This was the decision for assumption. Nondiscrimination had to do with the creditors, the holders of the debt. Most were soldiers who had not been paid during the war, this was simply chronic. Soldiers were not paid. They were given ious and sent home with promises of future payment. Over the years, some were sold. If a soldier needed money immediately, he might sell his iou at a discount to a merchant or maybe he would sell it to a speculator, to someone with resources who thought maybe one day these things will be paid off, let me buy them up from soldiers. So the ious were traded. These men had fought and bled. Mr. Americans thought why should we pay off speculators. They havent fought, they havent bled, they were simply looking for a profit. Hamilton knew the way the world of money works. He knew that if debtors pick and choose among their creditors they can do it once. They wont be able to get a loan again, but if they can, it will be at punishing rates of interest. He said there should be nondiscrimination. He was able to get kopg congress to agree to this too. The capital was moved from new york to philadelphia for ten years and then to a site in potom potomac, still unvilled, now washington, d. C. We got americas debts paid off in a timely fashion. And that was due to hamiltons foresite and his live deal making. He also had an insight about how to handle the debt. He wanted to manage the debt. He wanted the debt where regular payments would be mode on the interest. His insight was if you do that with debt, it turns from being a liability to a resource. People would see youre not struggling under a burden, youre maintaining it. So theyre willing to extend you credit. Debt becomes credit. Debt can become money. If you have a credit card, you know how this works. If you have 20 cards, you know how this doesnt work. Debt has to bemanaged carefully. Only two countries had gone this route. Holland was the first at the end of the 17th century and england followed with the bank of england. Front had tried, but the man in charge of their debt was not cautious, literally a gambler. He gambled himself and other money. This is why most french banks are not called banks. Thats how deep the suspicion goes. Ail zolexander hamilton was goi take this fall tune tri in the new world of modern finance. There were going to be many bumps on the road after his death. We would have panic and depressions. He got us off it a solid start. When he left, it was trading at 110 of his value. He made it worth as good as gold so the men of europe were willing patewill g willing to pay it. If hamilton had not lived and served the phrase for a troubled new nation would be maple republic or pine republic, but we would have been the first one and he helped us to avoid that fate. He wasnt doing it home to billion the books. He had a further vision in mind. We can see it in his report on manufacturers. The ail zapder hamilton Awareness Society had an event where the river drops 50 feet on the way to the atlantic. He saw this is a source for power. This can be used for factories. And there were some problems with hamilton as plan. The first director was a crook, but factories came to patter been and did come to america. He said we have agriculture. We have commerce and trade. We also need some offing, we need all we can get. He went into detail about the kinds of things that could be made in america. He found samuel colt who built a factory and moved it to hartford and the colt pistol and weapons were produced by colt again his descendants. In his report on manufactures, hamilton talked about what it did for people. He wrote what i thought were the most moving words he ever wrote. He said that mines of the strongest naft can fall below mediocrity and labor without effect if condition fined to uncongenial per suits. But each individual can find his properment len and call into his activity his nature. Everybody can find behind says proper element and find the vig of his nature. Hes go beyond dollars and cents and diversitdiversity. I find this moving because hes writing about himself. He could so easily fallen below mediocrity. Through brilliance, he got out and had a career. Unlike some people who rise from month where and make it, he found of our hamiltons, thats what he wanted the American Economy to be. Thats what he was trying to create. Were here to celebrate his life, but were also commemorating, we have been calling it his passing, buts be honest, his death in a duel i believe was needless, tragic. Makes me mad when i consider it. I remember the first time i went to where many of you had been. The duelling side was gone. At the top of the cliff they have a tiny little park. Not much bigger than this election churn. They have a shot, and there a flag and a fence and there isnt much to see there. But across the water, it is right on the hudson, and when you look, when you look to the east, you see all of han. Manhattan. From the battery up to midtown, all the way up to riverside church. The manhattan rage of sky crepers and buildings. I knew if hamilton could see that now, he would say this is why i came here, this is what i worked to build. Use it. Thanks very much. [ applause ] thank you. Mr. Brookhiser has been gracious enough to be willing to take some questions and to answer them. And please for the consideration of other people, if you could keep your questions short. Youll see in the middle there is a microphone if you want to come up with a short and terse question, that could be helpful. This isnt the constitutional convention. H hamilton gave one speech that was six hours. Did hamilton very any economic interests in any of the enterprises built at the great falls . I cant say he didnt have a dime in it, but hamilton was probably the poorest treasury secretary we ever had. His money came from being a lawyer, a lawyer. He was a very good one and a very well paid one. When he was back in Legal Practices and he took a hit, but he hoped to recoup and expected to be able to leave his wife and children in a nice escape. His death cut that short and his widow and familiarry was in very straightened circumstances afterwards. There is an attack on hami hamilt hamilton, his wife spent 50 years defending him after his death. They have been attacking him for a long time. The apparent attack i hear from my people who were they were saying that hamilton, this exploiter of everybody, had only built the Great Falls Dam because he had a financial interest in manufacturing. I didnt believe it. Im glad that you agree it is a lie. You can always them would you rather live in a poor country, would that it better. Yes, heres one. [ inaudible ] you mentioned something sophisticated, maybe talk about specialization of labor, a big part of capitalism that seemed to be part of the end of the talk, each individual his own talents being specialized in. The report is very long. A lot in it. It leaped out at me as a biographer because i did have the sent that hamilton was writing about himself. Which is really does. Noetz very selfreflective, never kept a diary. This is true of most of the faunding fathers. They werent generally an inward looking lot. John adams was. He had that of that puritan selfexamination and then keeps a very detaked diary. He is perhaps not aware this is his own life, how it could have gone, the life hes describing, but so easily it happened. He had a minister who had been educated at princeton. Second break. He wrote a letter about a hurricane the royal danish rn so people rubbed this thing and thought this was a bright kid, lets give him a boot. You could see none of those things happening or short shirt cutting somehow thats what he could have been and i sao wanting to change the deck for future players, very inspiring. Any other questions . I know you have seen the play hamilton. If your books br source material, is there anything you would have changed or add or do you ty it is perfect the way it is. I love the play. I saw it at the public theater. I reviewed it. They made me pay for the ruers ticket. Lynn Manuel Miranda read the book and we agree on everything except the year hamilton was ba barn. I agree with hamilton. The question is was he born in 1754 or 1757, anyway, sao, no, the thing that the play does, i see why they did it. They make bure into a nice guy. He has no ideas and he does kill the hero. But hes a good sort. This is done for dramatic reasons. You want an antagonist not just a villain. Theyre trying to make a parody, but nothing lopsided. Certainly burr had many admirable qualities. A brave man, an intelligent man, well read man, but i see something cold and empty the heart of him which is not the way miranda chose to go. Any other questions . Yes. [ inaudible ] why dont you do that so everybody else can hear . They also were able to speak, to, like, huge rooms in the 18th century. They did it differently, must have been like singing. I want to ask you a question that i askeded an Alexander Hamilton actor. He cant give me an answer, but the portrayal of hamilton was offended by my question. Was he romantically involved with his wifes sister. Yes, but did they have an affa affair . I dont did the know. His wifes sister an develop ge married john church and it was actually john churchs duelling pistols that were use d in the fatal duel with aaron burr and ive seen them. And theyre really good locking, which makes it terrible. These are artistic objects of gentlemanly death. It is chilling to see these things. Duelling was illegal in new jersey. It was considered murders. But never prosecuted. Jury nullification. No jury would have convicted. Thats what gentlemen do. A political system. It was a wicked system but we lived with it. There were Church Sisters and clearly anjelica is also smitten it hamilton. She writes letters to him and about him and reminds me of a character in a jane austen novel, amusing by how annoyi annoyingly, always in your face and putting emotions before you. I think hamilton was very flattered we this attention. He had an eye for the ladies. Hes not the only person you can think of who falls in love with a whole group of sisters simultaneously. Mozart did that. Charles dickens did that. It is a common pattern for someone, smand they pick out on who they may marry, but theyre in love it the whole crop of them. There is no solid proof of anything more than that. Brut i think there was a kind of eroticized wall street ed rela all. Thank you for your attention. [ applause ] you can tell by mr. Brookhisers knowledge and the depth that he had, there are many historians, many biographers, many authors, many journalists, very few have the scholarly debt and width that mr. Brookhiser has. Richard brookhiser also has been designated as a National Hamilton school, this reads for skem la pri scholarship, research and priing to provide Accurate Information to the public about the United States of americas remarkable founding father, Alexander Hamilton. The Awareness Society 2016. Thank you for your service to Alexander Hamilton. [ applause ] and to conclude, we want to let you know if you havent gotten one of these, you can ask for it afterwards. We have a number of more hamilton events upcoming. On the hudson, on the lower part, midhudson valley region. And thats the july 15th to the 17th. And the Trinity Church archives is going to have original documents. Baptism certificates. Encourage you to see that. Thank you for coming and keep following and cheering on Alexander Hamilton and his contribution. [ applause ] American History tv air on cspan3 every weekend, telling the american story through events, interviews and visiting historic locations. 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