Tonight we are delighted to have stephen knot. A professer of National Security affairs at the u. S. Naval college in nurport, rhode island. Prior to accepting his position, he chaired the president ial Oral History Program at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the university of virginia. His books include the reagan years, and Alexander Hamilton,. And with that, i would now like to welcome stephen to the electric turn. [applause] leckturn. [applause] thank you, jackie. And thank you, everyone for being here. It real sli a privilege to be speaking at such an historic site. This is my first time here. So im thrilled. Let me begin by and thanks to all of you for coming out tonight. I know there was a little rain earlier. Let me begin by noting that the Broadway Block buster hamilton 10 Alexander Hamilton ond bill and has transformed this founding father and transtransformed this unlikely founding father into something of a celebrity. But while hamilton is currently seen as an heroic figure its important to note that throughout much of our nations hivesry hamilton was seen as, quote, unamerican. A closet monarchist who probably hated the great beast. The American People. And a man whose dictatorial ambitions were checked by the champion of the common man, Thomas Jefferson. To make matters worse, and to make matters worse, his alliance with George Washington has already been distorted or slighted in favor of the more poetic alliance between jefferson and James Madison for the moving tale of reunification between jefferson and john adams. Many historians and biographers who are inclined towards a progressive interpretation of the American Experience have also contributed to downplaying the importance of the alliance between washington and hamilton. These scholars, unfortunately, echoed the distorted account of jefferson and his lieutenant, all of whom engaged in what it believed is the First American example of the politics of personal destruction. Jefferson believed that hamilton favored a monarchy and that hamilton had betrayed the spirit of 1776. Hamilton was in essence a british agent. And this cunning immigrant from the caribbean repeatedly manipulated an aging, somewhat dimwitted George Washington, president of the United States. Hamiltons premature death in 1804 at the hands of Vice President burr, presented jefferson with a chance to further distort hamiltons principles and practices. John adams, who also despised hamilton, partly for good reason, would later join jefferson in crafting a narrative which per trade hamilton in a most which portrayed hamilton in a most unflattering light. Adams believed that hamilton suffered from an overabundance of secretion which led him to engage in unbridled touring. Whoring. Both jefferson and adams were nativists and it perturbed them that this creole bastard, as adams referred to him, who was not quite american, held such sway over George Washington, whom, by the way, they also resented. The civil war and the rise of the antislavery Republican Party provided a brief respite from populist hamilton bashing. A series of republican president s, including james garfield, rutherford b. Hayes, all deeply admired hamilton and to some extent for his antislavery stance, which stood in contrast to jefferson. Hamiltons reputation peaked at the dawn of the 20th century when Theodore Roosevelt invoked hamilton and his embrace of energetic government to provide a further progressive agenda. One of roosevelts left and progressive predecessors also harding also revered hamilton. Mellons embrace of hamilton was guaranteed to offend progressives and populists. And when the Great Depression came, Alexander Hamilton was held almost in culpable as melon and herbert hoover. Other than Thomas Jefferson, no american did more to contributive the negative image of the of of hamilton in the American Mind than franklin roosevelt. The only book review roosevelt avril wrote was jefferson and hamilton, the struggle for america argue that hamilton would have opposed to the nazis. In 1943, 1 of the leading broadway shows was the patriot. The plot of this play revolved around Alexander Hamilton stomping around the stage all the while proclaiming that the American People were drunken swine. Franklin roosevelt invited the playwright to stage a command performance in washington and to attend the dedication of the jefferson memorial. This image held well into the 20th century, but began to break down partly in response to hamiltons status as the full immigrant among the key Founding Fathers. This status will likely secure his reputation, i believe, in an increasingly diverse america. Hamiltons standing has also improved due to increased scholarly appreciation of the role of race and immigration in american society. While jeffersons role is one of the leading if hes become the largest slaveowner in virginia, it stands in contrast to hamiltons founding membership in the new york manumission society. And fair or not, it appears to be an iron Line American history that come as one falls, the other arises. Jefferson would have it no other way. What makes the previous count more disturbing in my view is, when you consider the fact that the most revered american founder, George Washington, held hamilton in the highest regard. Conventional was in holds that the Epic Confrontation of the founding error occurred between hamilton and jefferson. But in fact, it occurred between washington and hamilton on one side and jefferson and madison on the other. Jefferson helped to foster this myth, celebrating his mantoman confrontation with hamilton by placing busts of hamilton himself facing each other at the entrance of his plantation. Over time, some jeffersonians came to see washington left as a victim of hamiltons machinations and more as a coconspirator. This, by the way, was an accurate assessment of the situation. For hamilton remained firmly under president washingtons direction throughout the over five years he served as treasury secretary. Jefferson himself later testified to washingtons handson control of his administration. The president , according to jefferson, was always inaccurate possession of all facts and proceedings in every part of the union. And to whatsoever departments they related, he, washington, formed a several a special plate for each branch. In their time and in hours, jefferson and James Madison and their admirers have had to choose between two very unflattering options between George Washington. He was either an unknowing accomplice of the faster from the caribbean, or of the bastard from the caribbean or a conspirator. To minimize the political repercussions, many jeffersonians in their ideological error, adopted the former position, in other words, that an elderly, doddering, intellectually challenged washington was unaware of the plotting taking place within the executive branch. As early as the summer of 1790, populist demagogues, such as William Mcclay in pennsylvania, were claiming in private that washington had become that washington had become in the hands of hamilton, the dishcloth of every dirty speculation. To this day, critics of the federalists focus exclusively on hamilton to avoid blowback that might have accrued by attacking washington. Remarkably, for a variety of reasons, tacking hamilton remains a far more palatable approach than attacking washington. It should be noted that washington believed that hamilton filled one of the most important departments of government with knowledge, abilities and integrity and left a legacy where he had become a conspicuous character in the United States and even in europe. The president went on to add that hamilton was enterprising, quick in his perception, that his judgment was intuitively great. On the occasion of hamiltons departure from government, the president observed in every relation, he found his secretarys talons were talents were wellplaced and proof of your title the public regard. In march 1796, a little over a year after this letter was written, washington wrote hamilton that he could be assured of the warmth of my friendship and of the affection of regard that he felt towards hamilton. In contrast and by the way, this is frequently downplayed in contrast, washington would go on to sever all contact with jefferson who had deceived him on multiple occasions. The Unlikely Partnership of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton and the brief federalist moment that they presided over allowed the United States to build the institutions that launched this country on the path to becoming a superpower. But perhaps more importantly, the two men devoted themselves to convincing their fellow citizens, as hamilton put it in a letter to washington in april 1783, to think continentally. As washington and hamilton noted in washingtons farewell address, all americans citizens, whether by birth or by choice, are part of a common country. And that country has a right to concentrate your affection. The name of american, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt you just pride of patriotism more than any other appellation derived from local discrimination. These men urged americans to resist state or regional pisces regional biases and to reject the emotional appeal of parties and factions, imploring them to instead embrace a common good of the nation. In other words, they wanted americans to think of themselves as americans, not as new yorkers, not as virginians. What makes washington and hamilton unique from the other founding collaborations that get far more attention, even that of adams and jefferson, is that the bond between washington and hamilton was forged in the crucible of war, the revolutionary war. Unlike many of their great contemporaries, washington and hamilton saw war up close and personal. They were brothers in arms in a sense. And as any combat veteran will attest to, combat is a bonding experience like no other. These two men helped form the core cadre of leadership in the struggle for independence from Great Britain. And by the way, won against overwhelming odds. They drove the National Importance that would culminate in a more Perfect Union at the National Convention ratified in 1788. These men breathed life into the constitution. The establishment of a National Bank, the establishment of what hamilton referred to as an energetic executive, the retirement of the public debt, the response, their mutual response to the whiskey rebellion, and even the controversial jay treaty were all important steps of an american identity. Washington was as devoted as hamilton in his desire to create a great nation. And this i think set him apart from his fellow virginians. That these two virginians, washington and jefferson were unable to see eye to eye on the great issues of the day is great revealing. Washington in his parochialism envisioned a nation, the United States of america, and most often than not sided with the cabinet member, hamilton, with whom he had the least in common. Jefferson remained committed to an agrarian confederation that was slowly but surely dying away. Unlike his great rival, washington categorically rejected jeffersons flirtation with nullification and secession. Jeffersons fierce opposition for a National Bank and acceptance of the idea that a publicly financed debt had its attributes and, by the way, i would add his contrasting treatment of his slaves at the end of his life places him in stark contrast to washington. It is very tempting and you see this repeatedly, to portray washington as above the partisan fray of the 1790s. But he was as committed to the federalist agenda as was hamilton, who did his washington bidding. While the federalist moment was a brief one, lasting from 1789 to 1796, you can argue that it somewhat carried over through john adamss presidency, due to the influence of washingtons cabinet, which adams kept in place until the last year of his presidency, it was this critical period that allowed the new federal government to secure its footing, stabilize the nations finances, and to avoid war with the leading superpower of the day. Interestingly, jeffersons devotion to liberty, to the cause of liberty, to which he was devoted, and which he believed was intrinsic to human nature and universally applicable, and which is frequently contrasted with the allegedly authoritarian inclination of hamilton and the federalists, this devotion to liberty on jeffersons part did not extend to the haitian revolution of the 1790s and early 1800s. The slave uprising that occurred on that imprisoned island was directed against French Colonial rule as well as against the barbaric conditions experienced by slaves in bondage. The events in haiti terrified southern slaveowners, such as Thomas Jefferson. Whose position on emancipation, along with that of many of his fellow virginians, hardened as the 1790s wore on. The fear that the haitian contagion would spread to the southern United States. While washington and hamilton of endorsed a cautious position to the haitian revolution, it ultimately divided federalist from the jeffersonian republic. While the Federalist Party contained abolitionist whites and free blacks, the latter party became the party of slaveholders and the institutions northern white population. The federalists took a much more assertive to use a more modern term, a more progressive position than the democrats or republicans. The difference between a federalists like hamilton, who was a founder of the new york society for promoting the manumission of slaves, and jefferson, one of the largest slaveholders in virginia, who began to see northern opposition to slavery as part of a conspiracy to oppress the south, has to be factored into any honest assessment of this period in American History. By the way, i am not engaging here in what some historians call a present believed to what happened 200 years ago. The reason i say this is not a case of not engaging in presentism is that many of the federalists contemporaries and even jefferson himself, during his younger years, recognized as the hypocrisy of a nation founded on the principle that all men were created equal while, at the same time, enslaving human beings by the thousands. According to edmund randolph, who served her time as the attorney general in washingtons administration and was no friend of washington, according to randolph, washington told him that, if it came to a conflict between north and south over slavery, and the fate of the union, the general, general washington, would join the northern cause. Now let me make it clear. Washington and hamilton were by no means abolitionists. And i do in fact think that both ron chernow and linmanuel miranda, who has to and a tremendous job in reviving interest in hamilton, i think they overstate this alleged abolitionism. They were not abolitionists. But they were more concerned than many jeffersonians about the debilitating influence of slavery on the character of the american citizenry and they feared that the issue might ultimately destroy the nation in a sense, jefferson did correctly discern the dangers to the south peculiar institution presented by the federalists, who unfortunately, to this day, are portrayed as enemies of the common man. I would urge you to consider the fact that cometh that common man happened to be black or native american, then these accounts are complete distortions of the truth. So what i would urge you to consider tonight and after you leave your tonight, and i hope folks you might be watching this on cspan someday, will put aside the caricature accounts of early American History, which pits the suppose it champions of the people, jefferson, madison, and their party, against the forces of privilege and authoritarianism, washington, hamilton, and the federalists. If they do so, they will discover that, due to the exertions of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, the American People did begin to think continentally, they did take hamiltons Mission Message to washington seriously and help to create a strong union, which decades and then centuries later, helped defeat fascism and fat and communism, helped to explore the universe, and led to technological breakthroughs. And perhaps more importantly, that Central Government would go on to abolish slavery and jim crow, thereby securing the blessings of liberty for all therefellow for all their fellow citizens. Instead of keep talking at you, i will take this time to take questions from you. Thank you for listening. [applause] by the way, i will confess that i suffer from a strain of jefferson during may and derangement syndrome. So if anyone would like to push back, feel free. [laught