George Washington firmly believed that the “hand of Providence” was “conspicuous” in the miracle of American independence—secured by a ragged army, more than once on the brink of annihilation, against the greatest military power on earth. Certainly, astonishing fortune seemed to attend the Americans—perhaps no more so than in Washington’s improbable relationship with Alexander Hamilton. Their alliance uncannily blended the strengths of both men into a vital force that launched America and changed the world.
“Indeed, no other founding collaboration was as important to achieving victory and nationhood as Washington and Hamilton’s,” Stephen F. Knott and Tony Williams argue persuasively in this feisty new account. For 25 years, Washington and Hamilton worked together, an odd couple if there ever was one: Washington, the wealthy Southern landowner given to prudence, steely resolve, and a profound clarity of vision; Hamilton, “a bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar” in John Adams’s memorable phrase, a hotheaded immigrant from the West Indies who brought to the table philosophical depth, administrative genius, and a remarkable facility for detail.
Their relationship, the authors argue, has been underplayed by historians who have offered a “caricatured account” of the new nation’s early years, in portraying Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and their party as “champions of the people,” while dismissing Washington, Hamilton, and the Federalists as the “forces of privilege and authoritarianism.” In fact, the general and the bastard were dedicated to creating a strong nation—conceived in, and dedicated to, liberty—that could sustain itself and prosper. The world is fortunate that they succeeded.
Their collaboration is in many ways the story of the founding. Hamilton, having distinguished himself as commander of an artillery company during the Revolutionary War, found his way onto the staff of the commanding general of the Continental Army. The young man’s passionate devotion to the patriot cause, clear writing, and keen intelligence quickly made him one of Washington’s most trusted aides. Desperately seeking help for their starving army from a Continental Congress that could not yet obtain it from the states, both men became ardent believers in a strong national government.
Not that they saw everything alike: The two had a falling out during the war over an explosion of temper by Washington, and Hamilton nursed his wounded pride long after the incident. After the war, Hamilton supported a show of force by the military to pressure Congress into heeding its will. Washington, insisting that civilian authority must be predominant, tamped down the cabal and later underscored the message by voluntarily giving up his military powers rather than become dictator.
“If he does that,” George III had predicted, “he will be the greatest man in the world.”
Yet Hamilton repeatedly worked with Washington in seeking a stronger union. He urged Washington to attend the Constitutional Convention, putting the essential stamp of America’s beau ideal on the effort to replace the Articles of Confederation with a powerful national authority. Washington understood and heeded Hamilton’s urgings that he become the first president, which was crucial to establishing the new nation and setting an example of strong executive leadership within a system of divided power among three branches.
Hamilton also worked with Washington to promote manufacturing, “multiply the objects of enterprise,” and “stimulate the activity of the human mind”—in other words, as the authors put it, “to unleash the entrepreneurial talents of the American people.” Thomas Jefferson, believing that liberty was best sustained by farmers, feared a thriving market economy would introduce European-style corruption—and, ultimately, monarchy—to America.
Indeed, Jefferson’s approval of the revolutionary bloodbath in France, and his hatred of Great Britain, also set him at odds with Washington and Hamilton, “who had personally experienced the impact of violence,” the authors note, and “were far less taken with juvenile notions of the positive effects of bloodshed and upheaval.” Knott and Williams compare Hamilton’s upbringing in a lawless Caribbean simmering with violence with Jefferson’s earliest memory of being carried on a pillow by a slave.
Such observations, sprinkled through the text, run the danger of presenting key figures—notably John Adams—as the kind of caricatures the authors find other historians peddling. Yet there is much good sense in the authors’ concluding opinion, that Americans would do well to rediscover the role that the team of Washington and Hamilton played in creating “a strong union that decades and then centuries later helped defeat fascism and communism, explored the universe, produced endless scientific and technological breakthroughs, and perhaps most importantly abolished slavery and Jim Crow, thereby securing the blessings of liberty for all of their fellow citizens.”
Edward Achorn, editorial page editor of the Providence Journal, is the author of Fifty-nine in ’84 and The Summer of Beer and Whiskey.
