This is a brief introduction to the life, thought, work, and legacy of Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), but it is not a traditional biography. Public curiosity about Hamilton, his life, and his work has swelled, particularly among those intrigued by popular-culture portrayals in the Broadway musical Hamilton: An American Musical. This book presents a summary of Hamilton's life and explores his role in revolution, constitutionalism, economics, diplomacy, and war, as well as his relationship to honor culture and duelling. The epilogue considers Hamilton's legacies.The book considers Hamilton as a key founding father, focusing on his work as a politician, a constitutional thinker, and the nation's first secretary of the treasury. In that role, Hamilton was perhaps the leading American domestic policy-maker and nationalist. He led the effort to write the brilliant defense and exposition of the Constitution, The Federalist, and later, as treasury secretary, he pioneered efforts to interpret the Constitution broadly, as a generous grant of national power to the government of the United States. As part of that effort, he also pioneered expositions of the Constitution as a source of executive and judicial power. In addition, as a leading figure in the American world of honor culture, Hamilton was also a principal exponent of political combat in defense of personal and political honor. As such, he was a tragic victim of the honor culture he did so much to establish as a component of national politics, dying as the result of a mortal wound he suffered in his 1804 duel with Aaron Burr, his longtime antagonist and Vice President of the United States.Though not often an admired political figure in his own time, Hamilton was perhaps the leading and most enthusiastic exponent of American constitutional nationalism. In the more than two centuries since his death in 1804, Hamilton has continued to be the principal advocate of a nationalist reading of US constitutionalism.FeaturesThe first concise biography of Alexander Hamilton in more than half a centuryExplores how Hamilton's legal training influenced his lifeProvides a compelling look at Hamilton's role in establishing honor culture in American politicsABOUT THE SERIESThe Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Industry Reviews
"This concise, elegant, and erudite presentation of the life of Alexander Hamilton is just what we need. As Americans look to the past to answer questions about our present and future, Bernstein has given us an excellent history of the life and times of a man who did so much to set the course of the early United States." -- Annette Gordon-Reed, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family"Yet again, R. B. Bernstein demonstrates his mastery of the lives and legacies of the men who made America. His concise and illuminating pen portrait of Alexander Hamilton: The Energetic Founder is a welcome addition to the founders' bookshelf, an appropriate pendant to the author's excellent brief biography of Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton's nemesis." -- Peter S. Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor, University of Virginia"Alexander Hamilton was the most consistent and insistent nationalist among the founding fathers. R. B. Bernstein's admirably concise and clear book presents an excellent guide to Hamilton's constitutional and political thought and activities. Bernstein introduces us to Hamilton's lifetime of energetic advocacy, and he shows us why Hamilton mattered then and still matters now." -- William E. Nelson, Edward Weinfeld Professor of Law, New York University School of Law"...offers a fine, concise case for seeing Alexander Hamilton as the father of the US government." -- The Guardian
