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April 26th at Pullman Yards in Atlanta. Get ready for culture, community, and good conversation. Thumbtack presents the ins and outs of caring for your home. Out. Procrastination. Putting it off. Kicking the can down the road. In.
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This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Have you ever felt that uneasy anxiety when the 4pm hour strikes? The creeping meal-related distress that happens when you don't quite feel prepared? You know, dinner dread?
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And that's a fact. When the clock strikes dinner, think Stouffer's. Shop now for Family Favorites. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. And all of our history segments are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, where you can go to learn all the things that are good in life and all the things that are beautiful in life. Their online courses are free. They're terrific.
Go to Hillsdale.edu. Few figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Ron Chernow's New York Times bestselling biography about Hamilton became the inspiration for the Broadway hit musical. Here's Ron with the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton. I think it's fair to say that nowadays even well-educated Americans are largely ignorant about the first Treasury secretary. They know that he appears on the ten dollar bill, although you may notice with something of a Hollywood makeover on the new currency. Hamilton, I think, was the best looking of the founders, but the Treasury Department in its wisdom has decided that he needed some plastic surgery.
You'll notice that they have widened his face and they've given him this rugged square-jawed look as if he were auditioning for a Hollywood action movie. In fact, there was there was a marvelous piece in U.S. News and World Report reviewing the airbrushed images of the founders on the latest bills. And when the magazine came to Hamilton, it positively gushed, and I quote, and as for Hamilton, he now looks like a real hunk. So it took us two centuries to get a hunky founder where we have him. Of course, the other thing that everybody knows about Hamilton, or at least used to know, was that he was gunned down by Vice President Aaron Burr in a duel in Weehawke in New Jersey, two centuries before HBO and Tony Soprano took over the nearby turf. Burr, you probably know, was the only vice president in American history ever indicted for murder in two states.
Yes, and he actually presided over a famous impeachment trial in the Senate of a Supreme Court justice while he was simultaneously on the lam from the law in New York and New Jersey. Never a dull moment in the life of Aaron Burr. Hamilton unquestionably led the most dramatic life of any founder. He was an illegitimate boy born on the British island of Nevis, and he had suffered through a series of childhood traumas that would have shattered a lesser figure. His father abandons the family when Alexander is 11. Mother dies of tropical fever when he's 13.
He's then farmed out to a first cousin who commits suicide years later. Calamities of biblical proportions seem to find their way to this young man. Now, in 1772, in other words, about a year before the Boston Tea Party, a monster hurricane lashes St. Croix, and this self-taught prodigy sits down and he pens a description of the hurricane of such precocious force and eloquence that the local merchants, recognizing this wonder in their midst, band together to finance his education in North America. The Wunderkinds studied at King's College in lower Manhattan, later renamed Columbia, King's being a slightly awkward and inconvenient name after the revolution. And already as undergraduate extraordinaire, Hamilton is publishing stirring pamphlets against the British. He takes up a musket and he drills with his fellow students in nearby St. Paul's Churchyard, today adjacent to Ground Zero, and he delivers spellbinding speeches to large crowds on what is today New York City Hall Park. But this young man, for all his palpable ardor, is an ambivalent revolutionary. When a rampaging mob of patriots swoops down on the college, hoping to tar and feather the Tory president, Miles Cooper, young Hamilton, who was only about five foot six and rather slight of build, courageously stands in the doorway and blocks their path. The young man craves liberty, yes, but he also dreads disorder, and this is a fine balancing act, a recurring tension that will characterize his entire career.
Before he has a chance to graduate, this slim, blue-eyed West Indian is appointed an artillery captain for the Continental Army. He slips across the fog-bound East River during Washington's famous nocturnal retreat after the Battle of Brooklyn. He then rises from his sickbed to cross the icy Delaware to surprise the drowsing Hessians at Trenton. And then just a few months later, Hamilton is just 22. That guy who had been a penalist orphan just five years before in the trading house on St. Croix is miraculously appointed aide-de-camp to George Washington. In fact, he proved so adept at handling Washington's correspondence, Washington is able to give him the gist of a message, and out pops a beautifully worded, delicately nuanced letter from Hamilton that it almost seems like an inspired act of ventriloquism. You will see in this story that with almost comical, zellig-like consistency, Hamilton has an act for being where the action is. He is always there when history is unfolding.
It's like he's parachuted into every major event over a 30-year period. For instance, Hamilton was there at Benedict Arnold's house the morning that the treason plot was discovered and Arnold fled down the Hudson River. Hamilton found himself consoling the voluptuous but distraught Peggy Arnold, who lay in an upstairs bed.
She was weeping in this very gauzy and provocative lingerie as she faked a mad scene to disguise the fact that she was in cahoots with her husband. Hamilton, I think, was the brainiest of all the founders, but I think it's fair to say that around Beautiful Women he shed approximately 50 points on his IQ, and he was suckered in by this masterful performance by Peggy Arnold. Now, surprisingly enough, you would think that after this ghastly Dickensian childhood that Hamilton, aide-de-camp and effectively chief of staff for George Washington, would be thrilled at his sudden station in life, but he was Hamilton.
No, he was chafing at his desk. He dreamed of battlefield glory. And like so many intellectuals then and now, Hamilton was a daredevil who actually enjoyed courting physical danger. At the Battle of Monmouth, he was horrified to find General Charles Lee in full-blown retreat with his panic-stricken men. The young colonel rides up to General Lee and says, I will stay here with you, my dear general, and die with you.
Let us all die rather than retreat. And you're listening to Ron Chernow, who wrote the book about Alexander Hamilton and inspired the musical, but also inspired readers to know so much more about their founders. And my goodness, what a story he's telling here to folks at the Library of Congress. When we come back, more of the remarkable story of Alexander Hamilton here on Our American Stories. This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories. Every day, we set out to tell the stories of Americans past and present, from small towns to big cities, and from all walks of life doing extraordinary things. But we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to OurAmericanStories.com and make a donation to keep the stories coming.
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Tickets are on sale now at blackeffect.com slash podcast festival. Thumbtack presents the ins and outs of caring for your home. Out, procrastination, putting it off, kicking the can down the road. In, plans and guides that make it easy to get home projects done. Out, carpet in the bathroom, like why? In, knowing what to do, when to do it, and who to hire. Start caring for your home with confidence.
Download Thumbtack today. Every morning brings a fresh, new energy. This is today. And no matter what the day holds, we come to the Today Show for all of it. When things are tough, we talk about it. When there's something to figure out, we dig into it. And when there's joy, we celebrate it. Because today is where it's all happening. We get the best start to every morning because we start it together. Watch the Today Show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin, weekdays at 7 a.m. on NBC.
Hi, it's Jenny Garth. We all know the importance of taking care of our physical and mental health. But what about our sexual health? I've been there, feeling totally stuck when it comes to my libido. That's why I started taking Addi.
And let me tell you, I've seen firsthand what a difference it can make in how you feel. Addi is the only FDA approved pill clinically proven to help certain pre-menopausal women have more interest in sex, have more satisfying sex, and lower the stress from low libido. Addi has helped hundreds of thousands of women get their drive back, including me. Talk to your doctor or visit ADDYI.com to learn more about Addi, the little pink pill.
Individual results may vary. Addi or flibanserin is for pre-menopausal women with acquired generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder, HSDD, who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, who have had low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity, the situation, or the sexual partner. This low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship, or medicine, or other drug use. Addi is not for use in children, men, or to enhance sexual performance. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcoholic drinks close in time to your Addi dose. Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking Addi at bedtime. This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions, OTC, or herbal medications, or have liver problems, and can happen when you take Addi without alcohol or other medicines. Do not take if you are allergic to any of Addi's ingredients. Allergic reaction may include hives, itching, or trouble breathing. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur.
Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, and dry mouth. See full PI and medication guide, including boxed warning, at addi.com slash PI. Addi.
Visit addi.com to learn more about Addi. And we continue with our American stories and with Ron Chernow telling the story of Alexander Hamilton. Let's pick up where we last left off. Hamilton of course has his supreme moment of heroism at Yorktown. Hamilton after mercilessly badgering Washington is given the command of the first infantry battalion to storm the outer ramparts.
Picture the scene. Hamilton rises up out of the trench. He sprints across a rutted wasteland leading his men with frenzied war whoops. Once at the parapet Hamilton, whom I said was relatively short, has one of his subordinates, Neil Hamilton, steps on his shoulder. He springs up on the parapet and then he exhorts his men to follow.
You could almost picture Tom Cruise in the starring scene. Now despite crushing daytime duties for George Washington, Hamilton against all odds manages to give himself a crash course during the revolution in finance, history, and politics. From camp to camp this young autodidact is lugging to enormous folio sized volumes called Malachy-Poselthwaite's Dictionary of Trade and Commerce.
Not exactly light bedtime fare after a day of heavy duty correspondence for George Washington. Hamilton also totes along six volumes of Plutarch's Lives and he takes the empty pages of a military pay book and we see him recording notes on foreign exchange, population growth, geography, even European rivers that people never set eyes on. In fact in his notes, very interesting notes called from Plutarch, we see a young man who seems absolutely bewitched by the bizarre sexual practices of ancient Rome. For instance, Hamilton noted that in ancient Rome young married women seemed to enjoy being whipped by lusty young noblemen.
Why? Because they thought that it aided conception. I can tell you when you study our founding fathers you are led down all sorts of unexpected byways. In fact, Hamilton had such a roving eye for the young women that Martha Washington during the revolution nicknamed her lascivious Tomcat Hamilton, which must have made for some interesting moments at headquarters with George Hamilton and Martha calling for Hamilton. Now Hamilton, as you well know, is a very proud, ambitious outsider without money.
He lacked what the 18th century referred to as birth or breeding. He knew that he needed to marry into a respectable family and indeed soon after Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of a very powerful New York dynasty, visits the continental army in 1780, one of Hamilton's colleagues reports, quote, Hamilton is a gone man. The wedding at the Schuyler mansion is a very bittersweet affair because Eliza Hamilton has this huge, rich family that's teeming with all sorts of Van Cortland and Van Rensselaer cousins, while Hamilton has only a single friend from Washington's staff and of course he doesn't have a single family member in attendance.
I mean, think of the underlying poignancy of that emotional imbalance in that affair. And yet the very, very status conscious Schuyler family always embraces Hamilton as an adored member of the family. When Hamilton then launches his post-war legal career, being Hamilton, his exploits again seem to verge on the superhuman. At the time, he usually served a three-year apprenticeship period to qualify for the law. Hamilton, being Hamilton, manages to qualify after six months of self-study. In fact, he cobbles together a crib sheet of New York legal procedures and practices. He does it so expertly that it becomes a textbook for a generation of New York lawyers.
I wonder, boy. He then immediately does something quite fearless and of course quite controversial. Hamilton begins to defend the Tory merchants who had remained in occupied New York during the British wartime occupation, and those Tory merchants were now being persecuted by returning patriots. Hamilton always feared a frenzy of revolutionary retribution, a fear in fact that would be realized in the French Revolution. He also wanted to retain the capital and connections and know-how of those Tory merchants in order to rebuild New York.
Our city lost somewhere between a quarter and a half of all of its buildings during the Revolution. Now you'll hear it said, and very often it's taught this way in school, that Hamilton was a ferocious snob, that he was the stooge of the plutocrats of his day. In fact, it would be despot with Napoleonic ambitions, and of course in this particular morality play of early American history, Thomas Jefferson is always represented as the pure and virtuous tribune of the people.
The situation was far more complicated than that historical cartoon. Case in point, during the Revolutionary War, it is Hamilton of course who champions an audacious plan to emancipate any slave who is willing to pick up a musket for the continental cause. In the 1780s, it is Hamilton who co-founds the first abolitionist society in New York, the New York Manumission Society. From that trading firm in St. Croix that I had mentioned that Hamilton worked for as a teenager, that firm had imported up to 300 slaves per year from Western Africa, and it's clear from subsequent actions that this first-hand experience of slavery left Hamilton with a permanent detestation of the system. In fact, Caribbean slavery was the most brutal in the world, even those who managed to survive the Middle Passage. Their life expectancy once they started working in the sugar cane breaks of the West Indies was somewhere between three and five years.
So you constantly have these poor people who are perishing in the fields and the supply had to be constantly replenished. Hamilton, despite the historic stereotype, turns out to have been the most consistent abolitionist among the founders, bar none. I repeat, bar none. Hamilton, it also turns out, had very enlightened views about Native Americans, there is a college in upstate New York called Hamilton College. Well, the origins of that school, it started out as a secondary school that was supposed to educate Native Americans, Hamilton lent his name and his prestige to that undertaking. Hamilton turns out to have had very benign and enlightened views about Jews. He said in an unpublished paper that the success of the Jews could only be explained by special providence.
This man, whom we're taught to regard as this ferocious snob, who again and again shows himself as not only devoid of prejudice, but with a special sympathy for the oppressed. I think with the clear exception of George Washington, nobody did more than Alexander Hamilton to weld the 13 squabbling states into the powerful nation we know today. Hamilton personally drafts the first appeal for the Constitutional Convention.
He attends it, he is the sole New York delegate to sign it. As Hamilton who dreams up and then supervises the most influential defense of the document ever written, the Federalist Papers. Of those 85 essays, Hamilton manages to draft an astonishing 51. No less astonishing, there are periods where he's publishing them at a rate of as many as five or six per week.
No less astonishing, he's doing it as a sideline. He had a full-time legal practice. In fact, we have anecdotal evidence of the printer sitting in the outer office as Hamilton scribbles the final lines of an essay. No single treatise on the U.S. Constitution has been cited more frequently by the Supreme Court than the Federalist Papers, nearly 300 times over the past two centuries.
And if you chart the frequency of citation, the frequency of citation actually is rising with time, not decreasing. Hamilton, boy wonder, the new federal government is created, he hits the ground running. Hamilton is only 34 years old when Washington appoints him the first Treasury Secretary.
This instantly makes him not only the most powerful person in America, it guarantees that he'll be the most controversial, why? Remember Washington's cabinet, and the term was not used, it was originally called the General Counsel, Washington's cabinet consisted of just three people. There was Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, Henry Knox, Secretary of War, and Hamilton at Treasury.
I think fair to say pound for pound, the best cabinet in American history. Even the Attorney General, Edmund Randolph, is a part-time legal advisor to the president, lacking that small thing called the Justice Department at that point. And you've been listening to Ron Chernow, author of the definitive biography on Alexander Hamilton called Alexander Hamilton, and what a story we're listening to. He didn't have the birth, that is, he wasn't born to blue bloods, obviously, he was born in St. Croix with nothing, but he had that talent, that writing talent to start, remarkably Hamilton drafts 51 of the Federalist Papers, and he did it in his spare time. He was a lawyer, and self-taught, and just a prodigy. What's so fascinating about the Federalist Papers, that it's the most cited document in Supreme Court jurisprudence and in case law than any other document there is. And it continues to be cited with increasing frequency, in other words, the writing of Hamilton more relevant than ever in our nation's battles that are often settled in the courts.
When we come back, more of the story of Alexander Hamilton here on Our American Stories. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. Anibé sofas combine ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price. Anibé has designed the only fully machine washable sofa from top to bottom. The stain resistant performance fabric slipcovers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash, perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy to clean spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slipcovers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, loveseat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibé has you covered. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home. Sofas start at just $699, and right now you can shop up to 60% off store wide with a 30-day money back guarantee.
Shop now at washablesofas.com. Add a little to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
Thumbtack presents the ins and outs of caring for your home. Out. Indecision. Overthinking.
Second guessing every choice you make. In. Plans and guides that make it easy to get home projects done. Out.
Beige on beige on beige. In. Knowing what to do, when to do it, and who to hire. Start caring for your home with confidence.
Download Thumbtack today. Every morning brings a fresh new energy. This is today. And no matter what the day holds, we come to the Today Show for all of it. When things are tough, we talk about it. When there's something to figure out, we dig into it. And when there's joy, we celebrate it. Because today is where it's all happening. We get the best start to every morning because we start it together. Watch the Today Show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin weekdays at 7am on NBC.
Hi, it's Jenny Garth. We all know the importance of taking care of our physical and mental health. But what about our sexual health? I've been there, feeling totally stuck when it comes to my libido. That's why I started taking Addi.
And let me tell you, I've seen firsthand what a difference it can make in how you feel. Addi is the only FDA approved pill clinically proven to help certain premenopausal women have more interest in sex, have more satisfying sex, and lower the stress from low libido. Addi has helped hundreds of thousands of women get their drive back, including me. Talk to your doctor or visit ADDYI.com to learn more about Addi. The little pink pill, individual results may vary. Addi, or flibanserin, is for premenopausal women with acquired generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder, HSDD, who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, who have had low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity, the situation, or the sexual partner.
This low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship, or medicine, or other drug use. Addi is not for use in children, men, or to enhance sexual performance. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcoholic drinks close in time to your Addi dose. Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking Addi at bedtime. This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions, OTC, or herbal medications, or have liver problems and can happen when you take Addi without alcohol or other medicines. Do not take if you're allergic to any of Addi's ingredients. Allergic reaction may include hives, itching, or trouble breathing. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur.
Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, and dry mouth. See full PI and medication guide, including boxed warning, at Addi.com slash PI. Addi.
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Tools and restrictions may apply. And we continue with our American stories and with the story of Alexander Hamilton as told by his definitive biographer, Ron Chernow. This talk again came from the Library of Congress.
Let's pick up where we last left off. Now in the early days, Jefferson at State starts with six employees. Henry Knox starts with a mere dozen at war. Hamilton starts out with about three dozen and the number quickly balloons to several hundred employees. A frightening bureaucracy by the standards of the day and also again many times larger than the rest of the government combined, which is why when you read histories of the period historians tend to liken Hamilton's position in Washington's administration to that of a Prime Minister rather than a mere department head. When you say to people Alexander Hamilton was the first Treasury Secretary, it just does not begin to capture the scope and magnitude of the power that this man wielded. Beyond the size of the Treasury Department is a proportion of the government. Remember Hamilton had to invent that department from scratch. At the time there were no income taxes, most revenues came from import duties. This meant he had to create a custom service.
To have a custom service you have to create beacons and buoys and lighthouses up and down the eastern seaboard. Smuggling, as you know, was a favorite revolutionary pastime. Suddenly this activity has to be stopped in the name of patriotism so Hamilton has to construct a fleet of so-called revenue cutters that start of course of the Coast Guard. Then again we see Hamilton forging the basic building blocks of the American government. He takes a country bankrupted by revolutionary war debt, he restores its credit, he devises our first tax system, our first budget system, our first central bank, our first monetary system. He has the federal government adopt all of the state debt.
Why does he do that? That seems counterintuitive for the federal government to add that to what it already had. Hamilton knew that if the federal government adopted the state debt, creditors would transfer their allegiance to the federal government and it would also forever after give the federal government a kind of moral authority over revenues that the states would never have. Very cunning and very characteristic of Hamilton in terms of embedding a political program in a seemingly technocratic program. Again and again, no less important than all of these pragmatic achievements as Treasury Secretary, it is Hamilton, the great constitutional scholar who makes the enduring arguments that all of these new activities are in fact permitted under the new national charter.
Remember Washington's first question, first administration always is, is this permissible under the Constitution? Hamilton with a kind of clairvoyance that is hard to explain, encourages manufacturing, stock exchanges, banks and corporations at a time when these activities seemed like scary futuristic stuff to many people. In the book I dub him the messenger from the future or as the New York Historical Society would have it, the man who made modern America. So why has Hamilton been villainized as a dangerous reactionary since he seems to anticipate things that happened 100 or 200 years later rather than looking backward? Partly I think this goes back to the deadly rivalry between Hamilton and Jefferson in Washington's cabinet. Jefferson you know, a man of very decided opinions, was a rather shy, soft-spoken man and Jefferson actually shrank from open disagreement. If you happen to find yourself at a dinner party with Thomas Jefferson and you disagreed with him, Jefferson would not openly confront you, Hamilton would certainly openly confront you. What Jefferson would do, he would repair to his lodgings that evening, he would record the statement that you had made and then he would store it up for later use and boy did he store things up with Hamilton and Jefferson's secret diary. There are nearly four dozen references to Hamilton.
The epic animosity between these two Olympian figures is partly a matter of clashing visions. Jefferson wants a rural America with a weak central government, stresses states' rights, strict construction of the Constitution, tax cuts, limited government, etc. Hamilton's vision is of a bustling diversified America of trade, finance and manufacturing as well as traditional agriculture. Hamilton favors an energetic federal government, certainly a strong presidency, a strong independent judiciary, relatively weak states and a very expansive interpretation of the Constitution. You could see where the laconic Jefferson was quite understandably terrified of Hamilton's sheer brilliance. Hamilton was one of these frightening windbags whom you meet from time to time who can speak in perfectly worded paragraphs for hours on end and Hamilton did. Hamilton also is one of these intimidating characters who could and did toss off a 10,000 word opinion overnight for George Washington. And you could see in Jefferson's diary that he's really struggling with Hamilton. Quote, Hamilton made a speech of three quarters of an hour in the cabinet today as if he had been speaking to a jury.
The next day Jefferson wearily records Hamilton spoke again for three quarters of an hour somewhere. Hamilton was quite frankly a word machine. Hamilton wrote enough in 49 years to fill 22,000 pages in the latest edition of his collected papers and your speaker was masochistic enough to read every one of those pages. It is said that Harold Syrett who edited the papers for Columbia University Press, an outstanding job, Harold Syrett evidently used to joke that he intended to dedicate the many volumes to Aaron Burr, quote, without whose cooperation this project would never have been completed. When Hamilton publishes some articles supporting Washington's neutrality proclamation, Jefferson contacted James Madison and pleaded with him to rebut Hamilton in print. Quote, for God's sake my dear sir, take up your pen, select the most striking heresies and cut Hamilton to pieces.
There is nobody else who can and will enter the list with him. There is nobody else in America who could enter the list with Alexander Hamilton. Even James Madison often shrank from the invitation. The cabinet feud between Hamilton and Washington becomes so vitriolic and almost pathological that poor long suffering Washington has to finally plead with both of them to desist from their vicious attacks on each other. Hamilton's attacks were directly written by Hamilton.
Jefferson would employ different surrogates but the effect was the same. In the end it's Jefferson, not Hamilton, who leaves Washington's cabinet in defeat and Hamilton who reigns triumphant but as you all know the glittering prize that eludes Alexander Hamilton is the presidency and of course Thomas Jefferson goes on to become a two term president. During the summer of 1791 remarkably enough at the height of his powers as treasury secretary a young 23 year old woman named Mariah Reynolds knocks at his door.
Government was then in Philadelphia. She asked to speak to Hamilton privately and she spills out a woeful tale of how she has been cruelly abandoned by her husband this Bulgarian named James Reynolds. She appeals to Hamilton for financial aid. Hamilton several years later narrated what happened next. In the evening I put a bank bill in my pocket and went to her rooming house. I inquired for Mrs. Reynolds and was shown upstairs at the head of which she met me and conducted me into a bedroom.
I took the bill out of my pocket and gave it to her. Some conversation then ensued from which it was quickly apparent that other than pecuniary consolation would be acceptable. The 18th century had a way with words. And you've been listening to Ron Chernow author of the definitive biography on Alexander Hamilton called Alexander Hamilton and of course that book inspired the musical that has made its way around the world more than once. And what a story by the way what a battle between him and Jefferson about competing visions for the United States and some of those battles still happening today. Clearly Hamilton won in the larger broader vision of a strong central government but the battle today between the states and the big bureaucracies in Washington D.C. prevail and continue to dominate the headlines even.
When we come back more of this remarkable story the story of Alexander Hamilton with author Ron Chernow here on Our American Stories. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. Anibé sofas combine ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price. Anibé has designed the only fully machine washable sofa from top to bottom. The stain resistant performance fabric slipcovers and cloud like frame duvet can go straight into your wash perfect for anyone with kids pets or anyone who loves an easy to clean spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slipcovers you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style whether you need a single chair love seat or a luxuriously large sectional Anibé has you covered. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home. This started just $699 and right now you can shop up to 60 percent off store wide with a 30 day money back guarantee. 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brought to you by purina this is samantha from stuff mom never told you may is national pet month it's time to reimagine how you care for the cat you love petivity is powered by purina and developed by pet experts petivity's smart litter box monitor at app track your cat's weight and litter box behavior alerting you to changes you may not notice on your own so you can act sooner if something is off shop the petivity smart litter box monitor to try this game-changing technology petivity powered by purina and we continue with our american stories and with the author of alexander hamilton ron churnell let's pick up where we last left off after a full year despite all of the controversy swirling around his programs when hamilton should have been most vigilant of his reputation the smartest man in american politics does about the most foolish thing imaginable hamilton to his embarrassment never knew whether mrs reynolds attraction for him was real or just a clever con job he later wrote the variety of shapes which this woman could assume was endless hamilton keeps furtively slipping off in the night to these assignations with mrs reynolds even after mr reynolds who was this rather coarse character mr reynolds suddenly appears and instead of stopping the adulterous affair between hamilton and his wife mr reynolds decides it would be more fun to tax it hamilton begins to fork over blackmail money to this grifter james reynolds despite the obvious fatal damage that this can do to hamilton's career not to mention to his devoted long-suffering wife eliza one day mrs reynolds was entertaining a friend named jacob clingman when hamilton comes unexpectedly that there weren't even hamilton took certain precautions like always being alone with mrs reynolds hamilton is petrified to discover an eyewitness so what does he do he pretends that he's simply dropping off a message for the lowlife james reynolds pause a moment to picture this kind of let it sink in imagine your home one day there's a knock at the door you go downstairs you open the door and there's colin paler donald rumsfeld pretending to be the fedex delivery man and imagining that he's going to get away with the disguise hamilton ultimately publishes a 95-page pamphlet admitting to the affair because his enemy said oh you know that money he was paying to james reynolds that was for illicit speculation treasury securities hamilton says no no no it says it at 95 pages no no no that was adultery that the money was was for now i know that all of this intrigue and backstabbing runs counter to our preferred image of the founders these tales may remind us more of the fallen state of our tabloid political culture today than of the men enshrined in our school textbooks and let me stress so that there's not any misunderstanding my attempt here is in no way to deny the greatness of the founders the very best thing about spending five years on alexander hamilton i got on a daily basis just to drink in his glorious words to spend five years not only in his company but that of all of the founders and if anything i came away with a far more exalted sense of their brilliance their depth their integrity etc at the same time i wanted to liberate hamilton and the other founders from what i thought was a sometimes stultifying image of gentility of these people with powdered wigs and silver buckled shoes the founding fathers were not statues chiseled in stone they were passionate fascinating figures of tremendous force and intensity once the revolution was over they exhibited very much the same lust for power status and influence as other human beings nor do i think that we should fault them for that in fact it was their candidly realistic view of the ambition and the avarice rooted in human nature that enabled them to construct the most ingenious constitution that has guarded us against human frailty for more than two centuries as you know madison wrote famously in federalist 51 if men were angels no government would be necessary thank god that they took that grim that pessimistic view of human nature rather than assuming that we would have a succession of saints in the white house the founders i think wrote these things not just from abstract speculation but from their own personal experiences and observation let me jump ahead to the dual six times earlier in his career alexander hamilton had entered into the highly ritualized quarrels known as affairs of honor the potential culmination of affair of honor could always be a duel on those previous six occasions hamilton had as it were settled out of court the quarrels had not ended up in the dueling ground they could have hamilton was a very combative man he was he was hypersensitive i think probably because of his illegitimate boyhood in the caribbean and what was a lifelong sense of shame about his illegitimacy so he's always very vigilant anything concerning his reputation and sense of honor the novelty of what happens with aaron burn 1804 was that for the first time hamilton is on the receiving end of the challenge instead of issuing it i think this throws him off balance psychologically when hamilton and burr met on the field of honor in weehawken new jersey on july 11 1804 hamilton and vice president darren burr were two politicians with their careers in sharp decline as shown by the reynolds affair hamilton had perhaps committed political suicide in public once too often by this point aaron burr for his part had alienated thomas jefferson he was of jefferson's party during the famous tie election of 1800 to try to explain it briefly for those of you unfamiliar with it there was not a separate vote in the electoral college for president and vice president jefferson and burr were nominally on the same ticket the understanding being that jefferson would be president aaron burr vice president when there is a tie between jefferson and burr in the electoral college aaron burr suddenly decides that it might be rather pleasant to be president of the united states instead of merely vice president thomas jefferson who incredibly enough wins that election with an assist from alexander hamilton of all people burr becomes vice president thomas jefferson has a very very long memory for such fatal miscalculations decides to drop burr from the ticket in 1804 burr returns to new york tries to run for governor again hamilton blocks burr's path hamilton's explanation for it was as follows he said that he supported jefferson rather than burr because he would rather have somebody with the wrong principles rather than no principles he thought that burr was unprincipled and unscrupulous of course burr is is is during that tie and tacitly flirting with the federalists a lot of federalists who like hamilton disliked thomas jefferson said well burr may be an opportunist he may be a loose cannon whatever but we can cut a deal with burr whereas jefferson they realized that he had the wrong principles but he was a man of very fixed and unalterable principles at the time hamilton who had engaged in a lot of legitimate criticism but also a lot of hyperbole toward thomas jefferson wrote what i think was the most candid and accurate appraisal of jefferson that he ever did in a letter at the time of the tie election he said you know i used to watch mr jefferson when he was secretary of state and i was secretary of the treasury and he said i often thought that he was like a man who knew that he was someday inherit an estate the estate being the presidency and in spite of his rhetoric did not really want to deplete the estate which he knew he would someday inherit and hamilton predicted that jefferson once in office would in fact enjoy it and would betray a taste for federal power that had not been apparent in his rhetoric uh certainly when he was in opposition to the policies of washington and hamilton the duel occurs when aaron burr reads in a newspaper that hamilton has issued a despicable opinion about him at an albany dinner party burb was never unduly disturbed by having killed hamilton he had a rather macabre sense of humor he liked to refer jokingly quote to my friend hamilton whom i shot let me say in closing that i knew with hamilton that i had been handed a precious biographer's gift i seem to like these large flawed figures who forced me to wrestle with their contradictions and with hamilton every time i began to lapse into hero worship he would pull me up with some colossal unexpected blunder and every time i started to lose patience with him he would redeem himself again with some beautiful act of statesmanship or friendship or love i would maintain that from lexington and concord in 1775 to least jefferson's first inauguration in 1801 nobody stood more consistently at the center of american political life than alexander hamilton this is a story an incredible story of an illegitimate orphan young man who comes out of nowhere sets the world on fire and grows up quite literally alongside his adopted country and a terrific job on the editing by our own greg hengler and a special thanks to ron churnow this talk was given at the library of congress in washington dc and we love bringing you speeches and stories from the past and sometimes from the very distant past and this by no better a storyteller in american history than ron churnow again the book is alexander hamilton if you haven't read it get it if you haven't seen the media musical see it but you'll understand what inspired the musical if you read the book i love what he said about hamilton that every time he started to get into some hero worship well hamilton would do something that would take his mind off that let's just say and then every time he got frustrated with hamilton well he'd get lifted right out of that frustration by something either heroic or beautiful or dazzling that hamilton would do he was a fierce abolitionist and had a heart for the oppressed for jews for the american indian so in addition to being this towering financial figure this incredible fighter he had a soul for the outsider the story of alexander hamilton indeed the story of one of our fundamental founders here on our american stories tired of spills and stains on your sofa wash away your worries with anabay anabay is the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget-friendly prices that's right sofas start at just 699 dollars enjoy a no-risk experience with pet friendly stain resistant and changeable slip covers made with performance fabric experience cloud-like comfort with high resilience foam that's hypoallergenic and never needs fluffing the sturdy steel frame ensures longevity and the modular pieces can be rearranged anytime shop washablesofas.com for up to 60 off site-wide backed by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee if you're not absolutely in love send it back for a full refund no return shipping or restocking fees every penny back upgrade now at 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pays to discover learn more discover.com slash credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report this episode is brought to you by Purina this is Samantha from stuff mom never told you may is national pet month it's time to reimagine how you care for the cat you love activity is powered by Purina and developed by pet behaviorist veterinarians and technologists to help you provide the best care possible activities smart litter box monitor and app track your cat's weight and litter box behavior transforming their data into helpful insights and alerting you to changes you may not notice on your own daily and monthly litter box behavior and weight tracking can provide a window into your cat's health and empower you to act sooner if something's off the app also features the activity assistant and AI powered chat bot that can answer your pet care questions 24-7 with pet expertise and your cat's data always within reach it's easier than ever to give your cat the story they deserve shop 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