THE MAKING OF A NATION #29 - AlexanderHamilton, Part 1
By Harold Braverman
Broadcast: Thursday, September 11, 2003
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program inSpecial English.
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I'm Shirley Griffith. Today, Frank Oliverand I begin the story of Alexander Hamilton. He was the first secretary of theTreasury of the United States. He was one of the new nation's most importantpolicy makers. And he was a leader in the creation of America's political partysystem.
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The first government of the United Stateswas weak. It had many debts and an empty treasury. Its support from the peoplewas not firm. There was some question about its future. Many wondered if itwould last.
In a few years, however, there was achange. This change was produced in large part by the energy and imagination ofone man, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton wanted to make the United States a strongand important nation. He wanted it to become the equal of the powerful nationsof Europe.
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Alexander Hamilton firmly believed that nocountry could become a modern nation without industry. So, he carefullydeveloped a program that would make the United States an industrial nation. Healso organized the nation's finances. This was done by establishing governmentcredit and a national bank.
The bank increased the flow of money neededfor investment. It fed the needs of business and commercial activity. The needfor money had brought much of this activity to a stop.
Finally, Hamilton took steps to protectAmerican manufacturers from foreign competition. He did this by establishing asystem of import taxes -- tariffs -- on some foreign goods brought intoAmerican ports. These import taxes forced foreign manufacturers to raise theirprices. As a result, American manufacturers had much less competition inselling their products.
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Such a tariff system, Hamilton hoped, wouldstrengthen American industry. He thought the United States should not have todepend on other nations for the things it needed. Such a system, he believed,would create a demand for all kinds of workers. It would increase immigrationfrom other countries. And it would bring a new and greater demand for Americanfarm products.
Hamilton's financial program helpedmanufacturers. But it did not seem to do much for farmers.
There was a loud protest, especially amongfarmers in the south. Everything he did, they said, helped the industrial andbanking interests of the north. Yet the farmers had to pay more for themanufactured goods they needed. At the same time, they had to sell their cropsat lower prices.
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Hamilton succeeded in getting Congress toapprove his financial proposals. Yet his political victories brought him manyenemies. And they started a Constitutional debate that continued throughoutAmerican history. The dispute involved this question: What exact powers do thegovernment and the Congress have under the Constitution?
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Alexander Hamilton believed theConstitution gave the government a number of powers besides those written down.Otherwise, he said, the government could not work. For example, he believedthat under the Constitution, the government had the right to start a nationalbank. It also had the right to put a tax on imported goods.
Hamilton's opponents disagreed sharply.They did not give the words of the Constitution such a wide meaning. They saidthe government had just those powers that were clearly spelled out in theConstitution. . .and nothing more. If not, they said, the government couldbecome dangerously powerful.
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These disputes, and others, helped shapethe new United States. In future programs, we will tell more about AlexanderHamilton's influence on political developments. Now, however, we will tell alittle about his private life. What kind of man was he? Where did he come from?How did his political and economic beliefs develop?
There is much mystery about the early daysof Alexander Hamilton. Some facts about his childhood and youth have beenclearly established. Others have not.
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His mother was the daughter of FrenchHuguenots who had settled in the West Indies. Her name was Rachel Lavien.Historians are not sure who his father was. One story says he may have beenJames Hamilton, a poor businessman from Scotland. Rachel Lavien lived with himafter she left her husband.
One thing is certain. His mother died whenhe was eleven years old. When she died, friends of the family found work forthe boy on the island of Saint Croix -- then called Santa Cruz -- in the VirginIslands. He was to be an assistant bookkeeper. He would learn how to keepfinancial records.
VOICE ONE:
Young Alexander was considered an unusualchild. Other children played games. He talked about becoming a political leaderin the North American colonies.
He read every book that was given to him --in English, Latin, and Greek. At a young age, he learned a great deal aboutbusiness and economics. And he developed an ability to use words to communicateideas clearly and powerfully. This ability to write started him on the path toa new life.
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A severe ocean storm hit the West Indies.Hamilton wrote a report about the storm for a newspaper called "The RoyalDanish American Gazette." His story was so good that some of his friendsdecided to help him get a good education. They gave him money so he couldattend a college in New York City.
The boy's plan was to study medicine andreturn to Saint Croix as a doctor.
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When Hamilton arrived in New York, he triedto enter King's College, which would later be known as Columbia University.However, he did not have enough education to enter King's College. So he wentto a lower school at Elizabethtown, in New Jersey.
He was one of the most serious students atthe school. He read his books until midnight. Then he got up early and went toa cemetery to continue reading where it was quiet. He wrote many papers. Eachtime, he tried to improve his style. After a year at Elizabethtown, he wasaccepted at King's College.
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At King's College, both teachers andstudents were surprised by Hamilton's intelligence and his clear way of writingand speaking. The problems of the American colonies were very much on the youngman's mind.
Hamilton protested against British rule.When colonists in the city of Boston seized a British ship and threw its cargoof tea into the water, Hamilton wrote a paper defending them. Then came theyear Seventeen-Seventy-Six. The thirteen American colonies declared theirindependence from Britain. The declaration meant war.
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As a boy, Alexander Hamilton had written,"I want success. I would put my life in danger to win success, but not mycharacter. I wish there were a war where I could show my strength." Now,war had come.
The American Revolution gave Hamilton thechance to show his abilities. He wanted to be a great military leader. Instead,he became a valuable assistant to the commanding general, George Washington. Inthis job, he had to use all his political and communication skills to get moneyand supplies for the revolutionary army.
Hamilton also would become an influentialthinker, writer, and journalist. For many years, he wrote editorials for thenewspaper he established, the "New York Evening Post." He also helpedwrite the Federalist Papers with James Madison and John Jay. The FederalistPapers are considered the greatest explanation of the United StatesConstitution ever written.
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In addition to being a fine writer,Hamilton was a fine speaker, but only to small groups. He spoke the same waythat he wrote: clearly, forcefully, and with knowledge. It was this abilitythat he used so well in the New York state convention that approved theConstitution.
More than any other man, it was AlexanderHamilton who made the delegates to that convention change their minds andaccept the document.
After the new government was formed underthe Constitution, Hamilton continued to play an important part in nationalpolitics. That will be our story next week.
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VOICE ONE:
You have been listening to THE MAKING OF ANATION. Your narrators were Shirley Griffith and Frank Oliver. Join us againnext week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the UnitedStates.
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