Our Confounding Father

Just wrapping up this magnificent book, which my cheap ass got around to buying after it went paperback, and was always checked out at the local library. The first thing that strikes me as I read this bio on Alexander Hamilton is how ignorant I am about the Revolutionary Period in our history. Who created, architected, had a major role in tweaking among other things: Customs, the Coast Guard, the US banking system and stock exchange, the first "sin" tax - to go along with the principles of federalism that make us wholly unique among all other countries? Can't say I'd even entertained the question before, much less thought that it could come from one man. And the great thing about the book is that as deeply as author Chernow obviously reveres these accomplisments, he remains unsparing and clinical in describing Hamilton's sins of arrogance, adultery, and downright hypocrisy. And because he does this, rarely does a human life get such a thorough treatment. Easily the most compelling passages of the book deal with his long-standing feud with Jefferson. The book does quite a job on the guy. He comes across as our first Hollywood liberal: Decrying the birth of a central bank and all the capitalistic evils that would follow, yet not quite able to part with his 230-odd slaves becuase of his own financial incompetence, cheerleading the savagery of the French Revolution and its eradication of royalty, while still living a spoiled-rotten existence in Paris, et al. Their row over the French Revolution, among other things, makes today's politics look about as consequential as the last episode of The Apprentice. As one who thinks, as Hamilton did, that what happened in Paris was next-to-nothing like our war for independence (but more like what happened in places like Moscow, Saigon, and Tehran), I'm now eager to read a bio on Jefferson to see his side. (anybody recommend a particular read?) There's so much more to discuss and ponder about the book - where Hamilton thought states' rights should end and a central government should take over (perhaps undefineable), what really constitutes taxation without representation, how much power should one man in office really wield - but to those of us that see true capitalism and self-interest as necessary and vital agents of progress (tempered by sensible government), he was and will always be The Man. Haven't gotten quite to the finish yet, like I said. Some cat named Burr keeps popping up. I sense something bad might come of this. If you know the ending, please don't spoil it for me.