Richard Sylla - Author of "Hamilton"

And welcome in. This is Peter Rochon, President and Founder of Rochon Insurance and Investments. November 17th, 2016. Today we are going to be joined by a very special guest, the author of the book, Alexander Hamilton.

Of course, Hamilton, now a hit Broadway musical, will touch a little bit on the musical. But we are talking with the author of the book, Richard Silla. And Richard, thank you for joining us today. My pleasure.

Great to be with you today. Richard, you must have had an affinity for Alexander Hamilton before writing a book like this. Oh, I had been studying Hamilton for at least 50 years. I always found him to be one of the most interesting of all the characters of the founding era and indeed all of our history. Hamilton played a fundamental role in making our country what it is. Let me start by saying this is a beautiful book. Great maps, illustrations, the artwork, the notations in it.

You put a lot of work into this, obviously. It seems like there are a lot of questions still surrounding Alexander Hamilton. Oh, yes. Why did he get himself killed in a duel?

That's one question. Why did he have an affair with a woman when that wasn't good for his reputation? The opinions of who he was, or at least how important his legacy is to us today, seems to change more and evolve more than most any other historical figure.

I think that's right. And that's because he was a complex person who had his fingers in many different pots and he had a lot of opposition to what he stood for in his own lifetime. And even today, I point out in the book that I quoted a historian who said Hamilton is the least loved of the founding fathers.

That was 10 years ago. And why is that? Well, the left wing in our politics doesn't like him because he was for Wall Street and corporations and banks and so on, commerce. And they're dangerous institutions, as Bernie Sanders would say.

They need to be reined in. So you might think the right would like him because therefore a lot of these things. But no, the right doesn't like Hamilton either because they view him as a big government guy. Hamilton was the guy who set up the federal government more than anyone else and made it into a strong, powerful government. And today, the right wing thinks Washington is too big and strong, meddles in our lives too much.

And they look back, how do we get that way? And they say Hamilton is the guy who started it all. So poor Hamilton, the left doesn't like him, the right doesn't like him. Well, he's stuck in the middle with you, I guess.

That's right. There are some questions I want to clarify here about Alexander Hamilton. Now, Alexander Hamilton, he was never president. That's right, he was never president. I think he might have been president had he lived longer.

But of course, his life was cut short. But he did make it on to our currency. He's the guy on the $10 bill. Yes, he's been on American currency pretty much ever since the beginning of the country.

And, you know, they were talking about taking him off a couple years ago. And I think the musicals popularity, Broadway musical popularity saved him from being taken off the $10 bill in place of a woman. Now they decided to put a woman on the $20 bill and keep Hamilton on the 10. Well, maybe they should replace him with Hillary Clinton.

She'll never be president either. It's beginning to look that way. Why do you think there was talk about replacing Hamilton?

It wasn't so much against Hamilton. It was a typical bureaucratic 10 year government that, you know, somebody said it would be a great idea to have a woman on our currency. And then the Treasury Department said yes, that's a great idea.

And oh, by the way, the next bill we're going to remodel is the $10 bill. So let's take Hamilton off and put a woman on the bill. And then of course, a lot of people who are great admirers of Alexander Hamilton raised a fuss about doing that. And I think the musical itself, President Obama liked the musical a lot as did his wife. I think he may at some point have whispered into the Treasury Secretary's ear like, you know, it might not be a good idea to take Hamilton off the 10. Do you think Donald Trump will like the musical?

I think Trump would. I think anyone would like this musical. I mean, you don't have to love Hamilton that much because it's so well done. I mean, it's just got engaging tunes and it's a high energy musical.

Hamilton himself was a person of great energy and the musical sort of brings that out. Now he did die in a duel. Aaron Burr shot him. Do you think that we should bring back duels as a way to settle disputes?

I don't think so. And even Hamilton said that he did not believe dueling and a lot of people don't know I pointed out in the book that Hamilton lost a son in a duel three years before he himself died in a duel. So it was a great family tragedy when his eldest son was killed in a duel defending his father. Hamilton announced that he was against dueling, but he thought he had to do it because that's what was expected of honorable gentlemen at that period. And so Hamilton gets himself into the duel. Um, I can't see any reason why Aaron Burr would have wanted to kill Hamilton. So I suggested the book that maybe Burr killed him by accident because when Burr killed Hamilton, his career was over and Burr must, he's a smart fellow.

He must've known that his career would be over. So I think a lot of evidence points to the fact that Burr may have accidentally killed Hamilton. Even though they did agree on the duel. Now, interesting note, even though dueling was relatively accepted at that time, Burr was still wanted for murder thereafter. Yes, I think both New York, where they both lived and New Jersey, where the duel took place, indicted Burr for murder.

And so he went south. He stayed away from New York and New Jersey. He was still the vice president.

Uh, and, uh, but I think later on, uh, they, you know, when they thought about it longer, they decided to drop those charges in New York and New Jersey. So later in life, Aaron Burr came and lived in New York, but he was never the prominent person he was before he killed Hamilton. So not the last political figure who has been accused of killing people. Uh, that's true.

That's true. You, you mentioned earlier that he was actually caught in a pretty high publicity sex scandal. Also not a last for political figures. Maybe actually he was the first in American history to be caught in such a scandal.

I think so. And we know a lot about it because, uh, Hamilton himself writes a very long report on, you know, saying exactly how he got involved in this sex scandal. And he did that again to defend his reputation.

He probably could have said less and probably should have said less about it. Uh, but Hamilton was a very open person. You know, he, he believed in telling you what he thought and sometimes at great length. Uh, he had an affair with a woman while he was treasury secretary. Some people learned about it, but they hushed it up and Hamilton thought that was the end of it. But then somebody leaked out the information five years later. And in 1797, these charges come out that Hamilton was the corrupt guy in the treasury and Hamilton says, no, you know, the people making that charger are wrong. I wasn't a corrupt guy in the treasury, but what is true is I was having an affair with one of them's wife. He goes on a great detail to explain what the affair was all about.

Maybe his friends told him that was TMI there, too much information. I think so. Hamilton actually wrote the majority of the Federalist papers. Yes, there are 85 papers and it's well known that Hamilton wrote at least 51 of them and he may have collaborated on some of the others. Most of the others were written by James Madison and about four or five of them were written by John Jay. Now these are papers that have shaped the political environment and sort of the course and path of our nation over a great period of time, as well as one of the newspapers that still remains today was founded by Hamilton, the New York Post.

That's right. In 1801, Hamilton founded the New York Post and I guess it's been published continually ever since 1801. I think it's a bit of a tabloid paper today. You know, it's not what it was in Hamilton's time. I think in Hamilton's time, the New York Post was something like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal today.

It was, you know, one of the top newspapers, but it certainly lasted a long time and I'd like to say Hamilton founded things that lasted. Well, there is also something that he tried to end, which was slavery. There's been arguments one side and the other over whether or not Hamilton was a true abolitionist, even though he did found the New York Society for the Manumission of Slaves.

Yeah, that's right. I think, well, the main point, Hamilton has a consistent record. Whenever he did talk about slavery, it was always to be against it and say, we ought to get rid of it. But in the times that he lived, if you had pushed for ending slavery in 1787 or 1790, we wouldn't have a United States of America as we know it because the South would have seceded then. That was very clear in the politics of the time that you wouldn't have had a country at all if you tried to abolish slavery.

We would have broken into more, one or more, two or more countries. So Hamilton put slavery as like a secondary, getting rid of slavery as a secondary goal in favor of keeping the country together. But whenever he did talk about slavery, it was kind of consistent that he was against it. Alexander Hamilton was also an immigrant, tough for him in his time, still tough today. Well, we have controversies about immigration today. You know, the recent elections talked about a lot about immigrants that were a danger to the country. Thomas Jefferson certainly used the fact that Hamilton was an immigrant to suggest he wasn't a real American and shouldn't be trusted. And so I think America has an interesting, you know, you might call it a love hate relationship with immigrants. You know, most of us, our ancestors migrated here at some time. But, you know, once you're here for a while, then you say, well, you know, the immigrants are a bit inconvenient. And I think Hamilton, because he was so brash and so smart and such a strong-willed person, people that didn't like what he stood for used the fact that he was an immigrant against them. And that still happens to people today. You know, we castigate people who are immigrants.

They're not quite like real Americans like the rest of us. From being an immigrant to being one of the most recognized face right on our currency. Hey, Richard, do you think you could loan me a Hamilton?

Well, you know, you can buy one for $10. Hey, I appreciate your time here on the program. I'm trying to have a little fun with you because history does need to be interesting. And this certainly was a well-written book about a very important historical figure, Alexander Hamilton, one of the founders of our nation. You obviously put a lot of time and thought into writing this book. It is a beautifully written and illustrated book. Great resource. I highly recommend that if you are interested in history or the founding of this country, that you go out and get a copy. Alexander Hamilton by Richard Cilla. Richard, thank you for your time in writing the book. It's always fun learning about history. And I certainly enjoyed reading this book. Thank you for being here.

You're welcome. Well, that was Richard Cilla, an Alexander Hamilton historian and author of the authoritative work on his life titled Alexander Hamilton. I am Peter Rochon, president and founder of Rochon Insurance and Investments. And this has been a fun interview.

We took a little playful attitude there with Richard Cilla. But to take a serious look at your finances and retirement planning, you're welcome to give us a call if you have any questions or concerns or would like a review and second opinion. You can reach Rochon Insurance and Investments by calling 800-338-5944. That's 800-338-5944 or visiting us on the web at RochonInsurance.com.

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