Two of the most influential figures in American history. Two
opposing political philosophies. Two radically different visions
for America.
Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were without question two
of the most important Founding Fathers. They were also the fiercest
of rivals. Of these two political titans, it is Jefferson—–the
revered author of the Declaration of Independence and our third
president—–who is better remembered today. But in fact it is
Hamilton’s political legacy that has triumphed—–a legacy that has
subverted the Constitution and transformed the federal government
into the very leviathan state that our forefathers fought against
in the American Revolution.
How did we go from the Jeffersonian ideal of limited government
to the bloated imperialist system of Hamilton’s design? Acclaimed
economic historian Thomas J. DiLorenzo provides the troubling
answer in Hamilton’s Curse.
DiLorenzo reveals how Hamilton, first as a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention and later as the nation’s first and most
influential treasury secretary, masterfully promoted an agenda of
nationalist glory and interventionist economics—–core beliefs that
did not die with Hamilton in his fatal duel with Aaron Burr.
Carried on through his political heirs, the Hamiltonian
legacy:
·Wrested control into the hands of the federal government by
inventing the myth of the Constitution’s “implied powers”
·Established the imperial presidency Hamilton himself proposed a
permanent president—–in other words, a king
·Devised a national banking system that imposes boom-and-bust
cycles on the American economy
·Saddled Americans with a massive national debt and oppressive
taxation
·Inflated the role of the federal courts in order to eviscerate
individual liberties and state sovereignty
·Pushed economic policies that lined the pockets of the wealthy
and created a government system built on graft, spoils, and
patronage
·Transformed state governments from Jeffersonian bulwarks of
liberty to beggars for federal crumbs
By debunking the Hamiltonian myths perpetuated in recent admiring
biographies, DiLorenzo exposes an uncomfortable truth: The American
people are no longer the masters of their government but its
servants. Only by restoring a system based on Jeffersonian ideals
can Hamilton’s curse be lifted, at last.
From the Hardcover edition.