Today's Politicos vs The Words and Deeds of The Founders
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An Interesting Letter from Alexander Hamilton
The following letter was printed in the Niles Weekly Register of November 7, 1812. The Second War of Independence was under way, but the editor was apparently motivated to let Hamilton defend himself from charges of being a monarchist, from beyond the grave. Some research is probably in order to find the letter that Hamilton is replying to. His remarks at the end of the letter are especially interesting.
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The letter above was written by AH to Timothy Pickering from Salem MA in response to his letter to AH of April 5, 1803. That letter can be found in the Papers of AH (Harold Syrett) Volume 26, pg 102-103. Pickering addresses AH saying that “The assertion of the Jacobins, that you are an aristocrat & a Monarchist, is not new: But at a late meeting of the sect in this town, one of their leaders declared “That General Hamilton proposed (&, it was understood, advocated) in the general Convention, That the President of the United States, and the Senators, should be chosen for life; That this was intended as an introduction to Monarchy: And that the Federalists [of 1803] of this county (Essex) had adopted General Hamilton’s plan. Your friends here (who are the real friends of their country) are very desirous of knowing the fact. If you did not make and advocate that position, it will be useful to have it known, & the Jacobin lie contradicted.” In AH’s response, he addresses the question and it will probably comes as no surprise that the event in Salem that drove this exchange of letters was the Republican-Democrat meeting to formally nomination candidates for governor and state senators. Politics then and politics now. Some things don’t change.
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Martin Reply:
September 3rd, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Thank you very much! Something tells me that it’s more than possible that you are a descendant of the illustrious Alexander Hamilton. Am I correct?
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Yes, I am a fifth-great grandson. Thank you for publishing this Hamilton letter. It is important that the truth be told about our Founding generation.
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Wow! It’s an honor sir. Hamilton wasn’t perfect, but he is still one of my favorite founders. I admire him much more than I do most of his detractors.
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