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Overview
Knott observes that Thomas Jefferson and his followers, and, later, Andrew Jackson and his adherents, tended to view Hamilton and his principles as "un-American." While his policies generated mistrust in the South and the West, where he is still seen as the founding "plutocrat," Hamilton was revered in New England and parts of the Mid-Atlantic states. Hamilton's image as a champion of American nationalism caused his reputation to soar during the Civil War, at least in the North. However, in the wake of Gilded Age excesses, progressive and populist political leaders branded Hamilton as the patron saint of Wall Street, and his reputation began to disintegrate.
Hamilton's status reached its nadir during the New Deal, Knott argues, when Franklin Roosevelt portrayed him as the personification of Dickensian cold-heartedness. When FDR erected the beautiful Tidal Basin monument to Thomas Jefferson and thereby elevated the Sage of Monticello into the American Pantheon, Hamilton, as Jefferson's nemesis, fell into disrepute. He came to epitomize the forces of reaction contemptuous of the "great beast"-the American people. In showing how the prevailing negative assessment misrepresents the man and his deeds, Knott argues for reconsideration of Hamiltonianism, which rightly understood has much to offer the American polity of the twenty-first century.
Remarkably, at the dawn of the new millennium, the nation began to see Hamilton in a different light. Hamilton's story was now the embodiment of the American dream—an impoverished immigrant who came to the United States and laid the economic and political foundation that paved the way for America's superpower status. Here in Stephen Knott's insightful study, Hamilton finally gets his due as a highly contested but powerful and positive presence in American national life.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780700614196 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University Press of Kansas |
| Publication date: | 02/15/2002 |
| Series: | American Political Thought |
| Edition description: | Revised ed. |
| Pages: | 348 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d) |
Table of Contents
PrefaceDeath and Remembrance
1. “And Night Returning Brings Me No Relief”
Hamilton and the Founding Generation
2. Hamilton and the Jacksonian Era
The Monster Bank and the Coming of War
3. Hamilton Rises Again
Civil War and His Vindication
4. Hamilton’s Gilded Age
His Renaissance
5. The Twilight of Hamiltonianism
1901-1928
6. Slouching Toward Oblivion
Hamilton as the New Deal’s Great Beast
7. Hail Columbia!
Hamilton and Cold War America
8. At Century’s End
A Hamilton Restoration on the Horizon?
9. Getting Right with Hamilton
“The Public Good Must Be Paramount”
Odd Destiny
Notes
Bibliography
Index
What People are Saying About This
"Knott has done for Alexander Hamilton what Merrill Peterson did for Thomas Jefferson, and in the process he has made clear, as never before, the contours of American political history. No one interested in our national trajectory or in the current prospect can afford to ignore this fine book."—Paul A. Rahe, author of Republics Ancient and Modern
"Tracks the ups and downs of Hamilton on the stock market of historical reputation. Its appearance now is a welcome sign that a low-selling blue chip is recovering its true value."—Richard Brookhiser, author of Alexander Hamilton, American
"Fascinating and illuminating."—John Steele Gordon, author of Hamilton's Blessing
"An exceptional book-sweeping in scope, engagingly written, and highly informative."—Richard K. Matthews, author of If Men Were Angels
Author Biography: Stephen F. Knott is assistant professor and research fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, and author of Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency.