Alexander Hamilton: Building the nation
Abstract
The first crisis (in the government of the United States under the Constitution) came soon after the system was inaugurated. Many of Hamilton's Federalists were honestly convinced that a fully democratic system would soon be followed by a seizure of power by the mob, which would raid the treasury, destroy all systems of banking and the like, and wreck the whole structure. To prevent this, and to secure power for themselves of course, they sought a bonding together of men of property to control affairs by their combined control of the means of producing and interchanging wealth. In the minds of its extremists, this oligarchy would see to it that only those who would subscribe to their thesis would be admitted to power, would indoctrinate their sons in its manipulation, and would entrench them by absolute inheritance and the power of money to create more money. They would control legislatures, directly by bribe perhaps, but more by bribes cleverly interpreted to be respectable, and by the lure of position, acceptance, and prestige. We do not need to trace the long history of this undertaking and of its failure. This political philosophy has by no means disappeared even today. It had a new lease of life in the nineties, when the enormous corporate aggregation, the trust, furnished new means for its furtherance. But it is no longer widely held, for the proportion of true liberals among men of large means is as great as elsewhere, and thoughtful men have come clearly to realize that this philosophy is more likely to destroy than to preserve democracy. It is no longer an imminent threat, even though in the minds of reactionaries it may be merely smoldering and awaiting another opportunity.
Subject Area
American history|Biographies
Recommended Citation
Brice, Charles S, "Alexander Hamilton: Building the nation" (1950). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAIEP00054.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAIEP00054