Alexander Hamilton

Just one opinion but I absolutely loved him. Despite his failings, he was so personable and intelligent that I couldn't help it! More on reddit.com

Hamilton was a disagreeable character (similar to Adams) who alienated many potential allies, but remains one of the major Founding Fathers and made many great contributions to American civilization. I would counter you in a few areas for you to ponder: 1 First, the paradox of Hamilton v. Jefferson. You need to remember the circumstances Hamilton was born in. Hamilton was born an ORPHAN on an obscure, tiny, insignificant island in the Caribbean Sea. He had basically 0 prospects at birth. However, he had a strong drive for learning, and penned a very interesting piece at a young age, which ultimately caused the island's vicar and residents to get together to raise the money to send the boy to America. There, Hamilton distinguished himself with a military career where he served admirably. He saw battle... unlike Jefferson. He was also deeply loved by Washington, who saw him as a sonlike figure. This leads to the paradox... coming from these origins, Hamilton adopted, as you say, a "pro-elite" perspective of government. Meanwhile JEFFERSON, who was born effectively an ARISTOCRAT owning a massive plantation estate, INVERSELY identified with the common man / was a seen as a champion of the common man. SO we have a rich aristocrat who thought he was a champion of the common man... and on the other hand an impoverished orphan who favored the influence of the elite. You truly cannot make it up. 2 Second, I want to touch base on your point about Hamilton being "the most right-wing" of the Founders. There is a very big amount of nuance we can add here. It sounds like applying our modern right/left division to the generation of the Founders... but their politics were not the same. True, Jefferson is often seen as one of the fathers of liberalism, and Adams and Hamilton of conservatism, but 18th and early 19th century conservatism and liberalism mean very different things than they do today. For example, Hamilton was an advocate of a larger, more influential federal government; he wanted government policies to promote economic and industrial development; he wanted a Bank of the United States; he wanted a standing army; and he favored a loose interpretation of the constitution. These are all policies of 19th century conservatives. Today, these are policies we would associate with the Democratic Party. Inversely, Jefferson wanted a weak government; no standing army; strict constitutionalism; no tariffs or promotion of industrial development (yeoman farmers); and deference given to states (he penned the nullification resolutions... which would later contribute to the nullification crisis and the Civil War). These are all policies you would associate today with conservatives. 3 Third, Hamilton felt his greatest contribution was in the Federalist Papers. You can read these, which he penned with Madison and John Jay, and see that he is one of the great architects of liberal democracy. Indeed, we would not have a constitution were it not for the efforts of Hamilton. Here you have John Locke's ideas implemented... the three branches of government, the elected executive, the bicameral legislature. The American government was the most avant garde of its age, the first liberal democracy... meanwhile France, Spain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia were all under absolutist monarchs. You point out that Jefferson was sympathetic to the French Revolution... however, it was the Founders who were leery about it (Washington, Hamilton, and Adams) who proved correct. The revolution ended up beheading the king and leading to a period of mass murder and terror... France became deeply unstable, and was ultimately taken over by a military dictator. You can see how the extreme idealism of Jefferson ends up leading right into the arms of despotism which is precisely what the more conservative Founders wanted to prevent. 4 Re: Hamilton's elitism, one other factor to remember is the role of learning in the 19th century. Only a very small part of the population was literate, never mind had knowledge of history, economics, or politics. If we look at the generation of the Founders, they were certainly all capable and well versed in statecraft... these were the people who designed policy and held office, and in practical terms it seems like precisely those you would want to pursue positions in government. More on reddit.com

The boring answer is the fact that there are no "bad or good" people in history, as both are subjective. So if you consider him good, he is good for you and so on, and like most people in life he would have seen himself as good or at least doing "good" or "the best of the situation" either for themselves or even for a large amount of people. Which is what anyone in history thought they did, even when some did the worst atrocities ever known to mankind. The question should probably be redirected to things such as "was Hamilton liked by his peers"? Or "was Hamilton mainly selfish and looking out for himself or did he acctualy work for the benefit of other people?" as two more psedu-'objective' versions of the "good or bad" type of question. Sorry for the non-answer answer. More on reddit.com

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