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The Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding
How Alexander Hamilton embraced American oligarchy to jumpstart American prosperity.
“Forgotten founder� no more, Alexander Hamilton has become a global celebrity. Millions know his name. Millions imagine knowing the man. But what did he really want for the country? What risks did he run in pursuing those vaulting ambitions? Who tried to stop him? How did they fight? It’s ironic that the Hamilton revival has obscured the man’s most dramatic battles and hardest-won achievements―as well as downplaying unsettling aspects of his legacy.
Thrilling to the romance of becoming the one-man inventor of a modern nation, our first Treasury secretary fostered growth by engineering an ingenious dynamo―banking, public debt, manufacturing―for concentrating national wealth in the hands of a government-connected elite. Seeking American prosperity, he built American oligarchy. Hence his animus and mutual sense of betrayal with Jefferson and Madison―and his career-long fight to suppress a rowdy egalitarian movement little remembered the eighteenth-century white working class.
Marshaling an idiosyncratic cast of insiders and outsiders, vividly dramatizing backroom intrigues and literal street fights―and sharply dissenting from recent biographies―William Hogeland’s The Hamilton Scheme brings to life Hamilton’s vision and the hard-knock struggles over democracy, wealth, and the meaning of America that drove the nation’s creation and hold enduring significance today.
“Forgotten founder� no more, Alexander Hamilton has become a global celebrity. Millions know his name. Millions imagine knowing the man. But what did he really want for the country? What risks did he run in pursuing those vaulting ambitions? Who tried to stop him? How did they fight? It’s ironic that the Hamilton revival has obscured the man’s most dramatic battles and hardest-won achievements―as well as downplaying unsettling aspects of his legacy.
Thrilling to the romance of becoming the one-man inventor of a modern nation, our first Treasury secretary fostered growth by engineering an ingenious dynamo―banking, public debt, manufacturing―for concentrating national wealth in the hands of a government-connected elite. Seeking American prosperity, he built American oligarchy. Hence his animus and mutual sense of betrayal with Jefferson and Madison―and his career-long fight to suppress a rowdy egalitarian movement little remembered the eighteenth-century white working class.
Marshaling an idiosyncratic cast of insiders and outsiders, vividly dramatizing backroom intrigues and literal street fights―and sharply dissenting from recent biographies―William Hogeland’s The Hamilton Scheme brings to life Hamilton’s vision and the hard-knock struggles over democracy, wealth, and the meaning of America that drove the nation’s creation and hold enduring significance today.
544 pages, Hardcover
Published May 28, 2024
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January 8, 2025
In The Hamilton Scheme William Hogeland tells a sprawling story that begins during the American Revolution and continues through the Andrew Jackson administration (and beyond). His concentration is on the political and economic machinations that built the early financial system of the new nation � how and why it was done, who benefited, who was hurt, who opposed the process, and the lasting ramifications. The initial protagonist of this story is Alexander Hamilton, whose dream of creating in the new nation a financial empire on the model of Great Britain, combined with his machiavellian genius in implementing his ideas, created the foundation that all others would either attempt to build on or rip apart.
While Hamilton begins as the principal focus, there’s a fascinating supporting cast to this history of a nascent financial empire. Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution was Hamilton’s mentor in finance, and a chief ally in his political machinations. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison usually (but not always) provided the spirited opposition, both theoretical and political, to Hamilton’s vision. Albert Gallatin takes over the main focus at some point of the story, as a financial genius who tried to deconstruct the financial scheme Hamilton created. Most interesting are the characters who became the biggest losers of this history � those men the founders derisively called “the Democracy,� who supported the idea of truly radical democracy (which they believed represented the spirit of the American Revolution) where laborers and common folk would receive equal treatment to the moneyed class enriched by Hamilton’s plan. These include the propagandist of the Revolution, Thomas Paine, and a back country radical prophet of Democracy, Herbert Husband.
This history spans the Revolution, Shays Rebellion, the Constitutional Convention, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and more, all seen through the lens of how they functioned in advancing or complicating the Hamilton’s financial schemes as well as those who opposed them. It covers the administrations of Washington through Jackson. The Epilogue traces the lingering effects and political myth-making up to our present time.
Hogeland’s telling of the story is riveting, but it does sprawl out of control, losing focus in the book’s last third, sometimes almost as far as losing the point. He also has a noticeable point of view; while acknowledging the impracticality of the ideas of Husband, Paine, and the other radical democrats who were crushed by the money men who built a financial empire for their own class, it seems obvious that his sympathies are more clearly aligned with them than with the financial founders who triumphed.
While Hamilton begins as the principal focus, there’s a fascinating supporting cast to this history of a nascent financial empire. Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution was Hamilton’s mentor in finance, and a chief ally in his political machinations. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison usually (but not always) provided the spirited opposition, both theoretical and political, to Hamilton’s vision. Albert Gallatin takes over the main focus at some point of the story, as a financial genius who tried to deconstruct the financial scheme Hamilton created. Most interesting are the characters who became the biggest losers of this history � those men the founders derisively called “the Democracy,� who supported the idea of truly radical democracy (which they believed represented the spirit of the American Revolution) where laborers and common folk would receive equal treatment to the moneyed class enriched by Hamilton’s plan. These include the propagandist of the Revolution, Thomas Paine, and a back country radical prophet of Democracy, Herbert Husband.
This history spans the Revolution, Shays Rebellion, the Constitutional Convention, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and more, all seen through the lens of how they functioned in advancing or complicating the Hamilton’s financial schemes as well as those who opposed them. It covers the administrations of Washington through Jackson. The Epilogue traces the lingering effects and political myth-making up to our present time.
Hogeland’s telling of the story is riveting, but it does sprawl out of control, losing focus in the book’s last third, sometimes almost as far as losing the point. He also has a noticeable point of view; while acknowledging the impracticality of the ideas of Husband, Paine, and the other radical democrats who were crushed by the money men who built a financial empire for their own class, it seems obvious that his sympathies are more clearly aligned with them than with the financial founders who triumphed.
May 27, 2024
A clear-eyed, vivid portrait of the financial entanglements of the American founding that once established could not be excised. Hogeland is relentlessly factual in describing Hamilton's methods as a scheme, conceived with the great financiers of his today to expand wealth and power and crush those in the west who would attempt to usurp that wealth. Founders become icons, and that iconography was used liberally and often in a contradictory manner, appealing to the legacy of the past to put forward whatever new scheme the modern heads of state determined to push. But the battle to define the constitution and its limits, which inaugurated practically from the moment of the inauguration, had some pretty clear lines. Hamilton may have seen his finance-forward views as necessary for American greatness, but the centralizing and monopolizing effects of those policies was deliberate, and we don't need to nuance our way around that.
November 10, 2024
One weird trick for building a new nation! Political scientists hate him!
This is a fantastic book about the early history of America, told from a primarily financial point of view. This might sound counterintuitive and even a little boring, but with this framing the history and motivations of the primary figures make a lot more sense than whatever nonsense we picked up from school and political speeches.
It’s a lot more comforting to think of the Founding Fathers as a bunch of enlightened geniuses discussing the abstractions of the perfect democratic government. But I’m pretty sure that Washington didn’t stuff himself into his old uniform, head up to Philadelphia, and lock himself in a stuffy room filled with other smelly strivers merely as an intellectual exercise.
But in this book the Founding Fathers come across a lot more human and real. For example: Washington. He blunders into the French and Indian war, speculates on land then sends the newly formed US Army into Ohio to protect his investments, sends Hamilton and the US Army into Western Pennsylvania to put down a tax rebellion, violates about half the Bill of Rights in the process of doing that. One of the first things he does after winning the Revolutionary War is kick some people who were farming for years on land that he happened to own.
Mr. Hogeland introduces two other characters that may be unfamiliar at first: “The Democracy� (pesky regular folk, often working someone else’s land in permanent indebtedness, who wanted a say in the newly formed country) and “The Debt� (money lent by other nations and the moneyed elite of The Colonies to fund the Revolutionary War.)
The titular Hamilton Scheme, as very explicitly laid out in this excellent book, is to consolidate and move The Debt to a strong Federal government with the ability to raise taxes, thus aligning the interests of the moneyed elite and the political elite and the military elite and to a lesser extent the land-owning elite to the new country.
This was a genius vision, especially for its time, and it was one that Hamilton pursued with a singular and maniacal focus until he got 360 no-scoped by Aaron Burr. Hamilton succeeded so thoroughly that a mere decade or so later Jefferson and Hamilton’s successor (Albert Gallatin, an interesting character in his own right) found that they couldn’t dismantle The Hamilton Scheme without dismantling the country.
[[[Aside: Interest for The Debt was set at 6%, and there was no Federal income tax until 1913. Six percent tax free! If I could get a guaranteed, tax-free 6% on my investments I would buy a second home and probably a villa somewhere on the Adriatic. I totally get why their interests were aligned.]]]
As in other books, Mr. Hogeland trots out the fascinating Herman Husband, a weird mix of The Enlightenment and Fundamentalism that progressive thinkers used to be. Mr. Husband is simultaneously a century behind and ahead in his thinking so he spends much of the book fleeing for his life or inspiring people with his speeches. He is the closest thing to a leader for The Democracy.
The Democracy puts up a good fight but doesn’t fare quite so well taking losses from the (new to me) Battle of Alamance to the Whiskey Rebellion. The Democracy did occasionally post a win like when a mob took over Hillsboro, NC, put a pile of shit on the judges chair and convicted all the local officials in mock trials. But Hamilton was playing chess while The Democracy was burning barns. Class will out, as they say.
This is a long book but also very interesting and is a surprisingly quick read. As a bonus the book ends with an extended Epilogue that follows the legacy of Hamilton, his Scheme, and Jefferson through the history of the United States. Included is a discussion of the eponymous musical that I have never seen (and frankly sounds about as appealing as four hours of The Capital Steps and Mark Russell.)
Strongest recommendation. I love all of Mr. Hogeland’s books, and this is the most wide-ranging of the bunch. (Also the Whiskey Rebellion is my personal Roman Empire in that I think about it several times a week.)
Biggest surprises (to me) in this book:
* Karl Marx wrote to Abraham Lincoln to congratulate him on the US victory in the Civil War and to suggest further steps he could take to help the proletariat.
* The French Revolution modeled their constitution on Pennsylvania’s constitution (authored by The Democracy) rather than the US Constitution (designed to bring about the Hamilton Scheme)
* Thomas Paine, after being left to rot in prison and nearly executed during the French Revolution, felt so betrayed by Washington that he called him “hermaphroditic.� Fictional Aaron Burr in Gore Vidal’s novel mentions Washington’s womanly bosom and hips. Was he our first nonbinary president?
* John Adams would have been great on Twitter. He described Hamilton as having an “overabundance of semen that he could not find whores enough to draw off of.� (Paints such a vivid picture in only 74 characters. Masterful!)
* Abagail Adams was no slouch either. She called Albert Gallatin the most cutting put down her New England mind could come up with: The Jesuit.
This is a fantastic book about the early history of America, told from a primarily financial point of view. This might sound counterintuitive and even a little boring, but with this framing the history and motivations of the primary figures make a lot more sense than whatever nonsense we picked up from school and political speeches.
It’s a lot more comforting to think of the Founding Fathers as a bunch of enlightened geniuses discussing the abstractions of the perfect democratic government. But I’m pretty sure that Washington didn’t stuff himself into his old uniform, head up to Philadelphia, and lock himself in a stuffy room filled with other smelly strivers merely as an intellectual exercise.
But in this book the Founding Fathers come across a lot more human and real. For example: Washington. He blunders into the French and Indian war, speculates on land then sends the newly formed US Army into Ohio to protect his investments, sends Hamilton and the US Army into Western Pennsylvania to put down a tax rebellion, violates about half the Bill of Rights in the process of doing that. One of the first things he does after winning the Revolutionary War is kick some people who were farming for years on land that he happened to own.
Mr. Hogeland introduces two other characters that may be unfamiliar at first: “The Democracy� (pesky regular folk, often working someone else’s land in permanent indebtedness, who wanted a say in the newly formed country) and “The Debt� (money lent by other nations and the moneyed elite of The Colonies to fund the Revolutionary War.)
The titular Hamilton Scheme, as very explicitly laid out in this excellent book, is to consolidate and move The Debt to a strong Federal government with the ability to raise taxes, thus aligning the interests of the moneyed elite and the political elite and the military elite and to a lesser extent the land-owning elite to the new country.
This was a genius vision, especially for its time, and it was one that Hamilton pursued with a singular and maniacal focus until he got 360 no-scoped by Aaron Burr. Hamilton succeeded so thoroughly that a mere decade or so later Jefferson and Hamilton’s successor (Albert Gallatin, an interesting character in his own right) found that they couldn’t dismantle The Hamilton Scheme without dismantling the country.
[[[Aside: Interest for The Debt was set at 6%, and there was no Federal income tax until 1913. Six percent tax free! If I could get a guaranteed, tax-free 6% on my investments I would buy a second home and probably a villa somewhere on the Adriatic. I totally get why their interests were aligned.]]]
As in other books, Mr. Hogeland trots out the fascinating Herman Husband, a weird mix of The Enlightenment and Fundamentalism that progressive thinkers used to be. Mr. Husband is simultaneously a century behind and ahead in his thinking so he spends much of the book fleeing for his life or inspiring people with his speeches. He is the closest thing to a leader for The Democracy.
The Democracy puts up a good fight but doesn’t fare quite so well taking losses from the (new to me) Battle of Alamance to the Whiskey Rebellion. The Democracy did occasionally post a win like when a mob took over Hillsboro, NC, put a pile of shit on the judges chair and convicted all the local officials in mock trials. But Hamilton was playing chess while The Democracy was burning barns. Class will out, as they say.
This is a long book but also very interesting and is a surprisingly quick read. As a bonus the book ends with an extended Epilogue that follows the legacy of Hamilton, his Scheme, and Jefferson through the history of the United States. Included is a discussion of the eponymous musical that I have never seen (and frankly sounds about as appealing as four hours of The Capital Steps and Mark Russell.)
Strongest recommendation. I love all of Mr. Hogeland’s books, and this is the most wide-ranging of the bunch. (Also the Whiskey Rebellion is my personal Roman Empire in that I think about it several times a week.)
Biggest surprises (to me) in this book:
* Karl Marx wrote to Abraham Lincoln to congratulate him on the US victory in the Civil War and to suggest further steps he could take to help the proletariat.
* The French Revolution modeled their constitution on Pennsylvania’s constitution (authored by The Democracy) rather than the US Constitution (designed to bring about the Hamilton Scheme)
* Thomas Paine, after being left to rot in prison and nearly executed during the French Revolution, felt so betrayed by Washington that he called him “hermaphroditic.� Fictional Aaron Burr in Gore Vidal’s novel mentions Washington’s womanly bosom and hips. Was he our first nonbinary president?
* John Adams would have been great on Twitter. He described Hamilton as having an “overabundance of semen that he could not find whores enough to draw off of.� (Paints such a vivid picture in only 74 characters. Masterful!)
* Abagail Adams was no slouch either. She called Albert Gallatin the most cutting put down her New England mind could come up with: The Jesuit.
October 26, 2024
Who knew a book about finance could be interesting (to non-economists)? This one sure was. At times, even a page turner.
A portion of US constitutional history that in my student days was covered in probably a page at most, from the declaration to the constitution, is told in 150+ pages revealing ins and outs and other finagling. And the moneyed men winning. It was fascinating to get this behind the scenes look. A history of the revolutionary that I learned in terms of battles lost and won is told in costs and how to pay for it, as much of a crisis as the war itself. Herman Husband, who I had never heard of, plays a major role in striving for a more egalitarian approach. Another long portion tells of the successor to Hamilton's attempt to reverse the trend.
But what appealed to me most was the epilogue where there is a quick survey of successive actions and successive versions of our founding myths that was juxtaposed with the data we had read in the rest of the book.
A portion of US constitutional history that in my student days was covered in probably a page at most, from the declaration to the constitution, is told in 150+ pages revealing ins and outs and other finagling. And the moneyed men winning. It was fascinating to get this behind the scenes look. A history of the revolutionary that I learned in terms of battles lost and won is told in costs and how to pay for it, as much of a crisis as the war itself. Herman Husband, who I had never heard of, plays a major role in striving for a more egalitarian approach. Another long portion tells of the successor to Hamilton's attempt to reverse the trend.
But what appealed to me most was the epilogue where there is a quick survey of successive actions and successive versions of our founding myths that was juxtaposed with the data we had read in the rest of the book.
May 25, 2024
*I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
THIS is the Hamilton that needs made into a film! As a whole I believe we have all been in the throes of Hamilton: The Musical and have missed out on a great deal of the brilliance and strife of Hamilton’s life. This book gave some fascinating insight into the Hamilton the musical fails to acknowledge, for better or worse. The author narrates the audiobook and he did a fantastic job. I did find I had to listen at 1.75 rather than my usual 1.5, as he spoke on the slower side but rather clearly so I was able to speed it up and not miss anything.
I recommend this look into Hamilton’s mind and his dramatic involvement in the creation of the America we know today to any and all fans of American history.
THIS is the Hamilton that needs made into a film! As a whole I believe we have all been in the throes of Hamilton: The Musical and have missed out on a great deal of the brilliance and strife of Hamilton’s life. This book gave some fascinating insight into the Hamilton the musical fails to acknowledge, for better or worse. The author narrates the audiobook and he did a fantastic job. I did find I had to listen at 1.75 rather than my usual 1.5, as he spoke on the slower side but rather clearly so I was able to speed it up and not miss anything.
I recommend this look into Hamilton’s mind and his dramatic involvement in the creation of the America we know today to any and all fans of American history.
December 27, 2024
An Engaging, Though Occasionally Scattered, Look at Hamiltonian Finance
Hogeland's 2024 book "The Hamilton Scheme" does an admirable job of guiding readers through Alexander Hamilton's financial plan for the new American government, aimed at assuming state debts and establishing global credit in the aftermath of the American Revolution. However, the book loses focus by devoting excessive attention to pamphleteer Thomas Paine and the eccentric Pennsylvania figure Herman Husband.
Hogeland largely styles his narrative as one of class warfare between the merchant/landed class vs. "the democracy," which is fine as a narrative device. It's always interesting to see/read about how distrustful the Founders were of the masses (either as militia or as a political force). Hogeland does an excellent job of showing this persistent contrast/conflict and how it influenced Hamilton's thinking.
While the narrative is largely a historical review of Revolutionary/Post-Rev goings on, the focus on both Paine and Husband ultimately detracts. With Paine, it's mostly because his inflated sense of importance to Washington always feels artificial -- or rather, the reader feels that it's ONLY Paine that feels this sense of importance/connection. Such that when he's inevitably disappointed that he doesn't have the influence he craves, nobody, EXCEPT PAINE, is surprised. This would be fine in a book about Paine - but here? Eh. Bit of a non-sequitur.
Similarly, Hogeland's focus on Husband as a quasi-foil to Hamilton is less effective. Instead of delving deeply into Husband's eccentricities, a more general history of the Whiskey Rebellion, sparked by Hamilton's excise taxes, would have been more beneficial. This focus on Husband leaves the reader feeling that other characters in the Whiskey Rebellion deserved more attention.
There are also a couple of odd time jumps as some earlier chapters post-date Hamilton's death by duel while others still have him alive. A more consistent chronological narrative would have been better. Nevertheless, Hogeland's post-Hamilton history is also solid as it deals with future Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin's attempts to wrestle with Hamilton's system even as Adams and Jefferson didn't much care for the man or his system but ultimately, and begrudgingly, accepted the latter (but definitely not the former).
Ultimately, "The Hamilton Scheme" is a well-written and engaging one that covers a critical, if underserved, element of Revolution-era history.
Hogeland's 2024 book "The Hamilton Scheme" does an admirable job of guiding readers through Alexander Hamilton's financial plan for the new American government, aimed at assuming state debts and establishing global credit in the aftermath of the American Revolution. However, the book loses focus by devoting excessive attention to pamphleteer Thomas Paine and the eccentric Pennsylvania figure Herman Husband.
Hogeland largely styles his narrative as one of class warfare between the merchant/landed class vs. "the democracy," which is fine as a narrative device. It's always interesting to see/read about how distrustful the Founders were of the masses (either as militia or as a political force). Hogeland does an excellent job of showing this persistent contrast/conflict and how it influenced Hamilton's thinking.
While the narrative is largely a historical review of Revolutionary/Post-Rev goings on, the focus on both Paine and Husband ultimately detracts. With Paine, it's mostly because his inflated sense of importance to Washington always feels artificial -- or rather, the reader feels that it's ONLY Paine that feels this sense of importance/connection. Such that when he's inevitably disappointed that he doesn't have the influence he craves, nobody, EXCEPT PAINE, is surprised. This would be fine in a book about Paine - but here? Eh. Bit of a non-sequitur.
Similarly, Hogeland's focus on Husband as a quasi-foil to Hamilton is less effective. Instead of delving deeply into Husband's eccentricities, a more general history of the Whiskey Rebellion, sparked by Hamilton's excise taxes, would have been more beneficial. This focus on Husband leaves the reader feeling that other characters in the Whiskey Rebellion deserved more attention.
There are also a couple of odd time jumps as some earlier chapters post-date Hamilton's death by duel while others still have him alive. A more consistent chronological narrative would have been better. Nevertheless, Hogeland's post-Hamilton history is also solid as it deals with future Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin's attempts to wrestle with Hamilton's system even as Adams and Jefferson didn't much care for the man or his system but ultimately, and begrudgingly, accepted the latter (but definitely not the former).
Ultimately, "The Hamilton Scheme" is a well-written and engaging one that covers a critical, if underserved, element of Revolution-era history.
August 28, 2024
An excellent examination of Alexander Hamiltons role in the founding of U.S. financial systems and markets and effectively the new nation and it's lasting influence. A robust detailed account of Hamilton's rise from clerk/accountant in British trading houses, to his connections to the richest men in the 13 original colonies intent on overturning the Articles of Conderation and forming a new nation where the moneyed class ruled through government influence and connections. Through schemes to establish a public debt, (to finance the revolutionary war), a national bank funded by connected investors, and eventually a standing army all designed to enrich the already rich. Hogeland" account is comprehensive and an enlightened , unapologetic telling of the formative years of the new nation. Great revelations of the Federalists, the Republicans, and their combined desire to best back "the Democracy" ie the people, by the moneyed, connected, land speculating founding fathers. My only gripe is Hogelands vocabulary is extremely esoteric, if your like me bring your dictionary. An excellent history lesson!!!
April 3, 2025
Really informative and well-written, occasionally quite funny. Some of the economic stuff was dense for me, but it was worth it to do my best to understand it. Gave me a new perspective of many founders and the mythology around the origins of the country. Also, authors reading their own books is not always a great idea, but Hogeland did a good job. Too slow for me but that's an easy fix.
March 2, 2025
This is a good story, with a new view on familiar events. It is hard to know how much credibility to give this author, though.
October 12, 2024
The Hamilton Scheme
An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding
By William Hogeland
Review by Jeff Neuman-Lee
October 12, 2024
I certainly recommend this history. Hogeland presents his story first as one about Alexander Hamilton’s idea for how America should work economically in order to become a great nation in the manner of Britain of the time. I’ve read Ron Chernow, but Hogeland tells this story in a more granular and matter-of-fact way, and Hogeland is less dense and a better storyteller. Then Hogeland uses other contemporaneous characters who worked in opposition to the “Hamilton scheme� to see the various forces unleashed by the differently perceived promise of a new relationship between government and the people allowed by the American Revolution. For me, this becomes a meditation of the relationship between human freedom and government.
Then Hogeland gives some of the history, with declining granularity, of how Hamilton’s scheme plays out into the nineteenth century. Here, it is a real asset to have read some about these times, to be already familiar with certain characters, such as Henry Clay or John C. Calhoon. On the other hand, if you haven’t read much American history, you just jump in somewhere and get started. This would work. This book is a bit of an antidote to always centering our historical understanding on a sequence of presidential administrations. I’d heard of Albert Galatin, but I had no idea about him except his name. I’d never heard of Herman Husband . . . why not? Maybe it has to do with his prominence in defending the rights of the individual over the power of the monied class?
Finally, briefly describing how the images of Jefferson and Hamilton have been manipulated, starting with Lincoln at Gettysburg, Hogeland shows the changing use of each of these; various leaders have pulled one characteristic of each man’s biography while ignoring other, sometimes contradictory, aspects of their story. Do you want unalloyed heroes from the past? Read of the past and disabuse yourself of such notions! We Americans want to claim the stamp of approval from the past, but the concerns of the past do not completely mirror our own, they could not see what we can see—thus the utter stupidity of attempting “originalism� when interpreting a text such as the constitution which itself was built with various, conflicting motivations for use today. At the same time, we ignore history at our peril. This one by Hogeland helps me to see how things work today by looking clearly (as much as possible through the fog of time) at that seminal moment when Americans fought (mainly without violence) over who gets what in the American economy. It also could help with actually using images from the past for the purposes of inspiring action today.
So, this book is about that part of the story of American freedom which starts with its economic roots. Economic freedom impacts us each most closely in our day-to-day lives. Yet, that freedom is an interplay between need and rights. What I mean by “need� here is the economic fulfillment of basic human needs: food, shelter, social place, purpose. We need a certain amount of organization and differentiation to get that job done. This is where Hamilton shines. He knew that there needed to be concentrations of economic power to do that; he knew that there needed to be a stable, trustworthy currency, and he was brilliant enough to envision how this needed to be organized in the real world of his time. And so, he built an economic system that fostered centers of power that could create the manufacturing base of America, that, in turn, would create an economic basis to fulfill human need. However, he did this without our modern understanding of the rights of individuals or even a vision for the economic power that free, empowered individuals bring. We have to remember how many of our ideas of justice and rights were just a glimmer in the eye of certain idiosyncratic Americans and religious types in the late 17th century. While Hamilton fought against slavery, we can see roots of American wage slavery and sweat shops which lasted roughly a century and a half past Hamilton’s time to Hamilton’s vision of what it means to be a nation, what it means to be human. While others, including the earliest abolitionists envisioned this, even Lincoln, the big change was actually enacted in the shadow of the Great Depression and with the FDR/Truman/Kingian responses. And, frankly, the great disparity of wealth continues to this day, albeit less socially acceptable, less seen as an asset to the overall economy, but ok to be shipped overseas.
Who should read this book? Anyone who wants to consider how things work best for societies as a whole. This includes my activist friends. But also, anyone who wants to see themselves within the American story, or, even, the human story of the betterment of humanity.
An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding
By William Hogeland
Review by Jeff Neuman-Lee
October 12, 2024
I certainly recommend this history. Hogeland presents his story first as one about Alexander Hamilton’s idea for how America should work economically in order to become a great nation in the manner of Britain of the time. I’ve read Ron Chernow, but Hogeland tells this story in a more granular and matter-of-fact way, and Hogeland is less dense and a better storyteller. Then Hogeland uses other contemporaneous characters who worked in opposition to the “Hamilton scheme� to see the various forces unleashed by the differently perceived promise of a new relationship between government and the people allowed by the American Revolution. For me, this becomes a meditation of the relationship between human freedom and government.
Then Hogeland gives some of the history, with declining granularity, of how Hamilton’s scheme plays out into the nineteenth century. Here, it is a real asset to have read some about these times, to be already familiar with certain characters, such as Henry Clay or John C. Calhoon. On the other hand, if you haven’t read much American history, you just jump in somewhere and get started. This would work. This book is a bit of an antidote to always centering our historical understanding on a sequence of presidential administrations. I’d heard of Albert Galatin, but I had no idea about him except his name. I’d never heard of Herman Husband . . . why not? Maybe it has to do with his prominence in defending the rights of the individual over the power of the monied class?
Finally, briefly describing how the images of Jefferson and Hamilton have been manipulated, starting with Lincoln at Gettysburg, Hogeland shows the changing use of each of these; various leaders have pulled one characteristic of each man’s biography while ignoring other, sometimes contradictory, aspects of their story. Do you want unalloyed heroes from the past? Read of the past and disabuse yourself of such notions! We Americans want to claim the stamp of approval from the past, but the concerns of the past do not completely mirror our own, they could not see what we can see—thus the utter stupidity of attempting “originalism� when interpreting a text such as the constitution which itself was built with various, conflicting motivations for use today. At the same time, we ignore history at our peril. This one by Hogeland helps me to see how things work today by looking clearly (as much as possible through the fog of time) at that seminal moment when Americans fought (mainly without violence) over who gets what in the American economy. It also could help with actually using images from the past for the purposes of inspiring action today.
So, this book is about that part of the story of American freedom which starts with its economic roots. Economic freedom impacts us each most closely in our day-to-day lives. Yet, that freedom is an interplay between need and rights. What I mean by “need� here is the economic fulfillment of basic human needs: food, shelter, social place, purpose. We need a certain amount of organization and differentiation to get that job done. This is where Hamilton shines. He knew that there needed to be concentrations of economic power to do that; he knew that there needed to be a stable, trustworthy currency, and he was brilliant enough to envision how this needed to be organized in the real world of his time. And so, he built an economic system that fostered centers of power that could create the manufacturing base of America, that, in turn, would create an economic basis to fulfill human need. However, he did this without our modern understanding of the rights of individuals or even a vision for the economic power that free, empowered individuals bring. We have to remember how many of our ideas of justice and rights were just a glimmer in the eye of certain idiosyncratic Americans and religious types in the late 17th century. While Hamilton fought against slavery, we can see roots of American wage slavery and sweat shops which lasted roughly a century and a half past Hamilton’s time to Hamilton’s vision of what it means to be a nation, what it means to be human. While others, including the earliest abolitionists envisioned this, even Lincoln, the big change was actually enacted in the shadow of the Great Depression and with the FDR/Truman/Kingian responses. And, frankly, the great disparity of wealth continues to this day, albeit less socially acceptable, less seen as an asset to the overall economy, but ok to be shipped overseas.
Who should read this book? Anyone who wants to consider how things work best for societies as a whole. This includes my activist friends. But also, anyone who wants to see themselves within the American story, or, even, the human story of the betterment of humanity.
May 28, 2024
You can also see this review, along with others I have written, at my new blog,
Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. No review was required in return for an advance reading copy and no review was promised.
Mr. Book just finished The Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding, by William Hogeland.
The book started off with very high hopes. The author peaked my interest when he described what the book was going to be about. But, then hopes once I got into the body of the book.
This was not a well written book and for most of it, the book struggled to keep my interest. What should have been interesting material in the hands of another author just failed.
I was hoping that things would have turned around with the chapter on the Constitutional Convention. That was really the only high point of the book. My hopes that it would be the turning point were quickly dashed.
It took me a while to figure out why this Herman Husband character gets so much attention to the book. To those who are already familiar with Hamilton and are wondering who is this guy, I have to say you’re right. There’s a reason why, in his long masterpiece on Hamilton, Ron Chernow devoted a grand total of zero words to Herman Husband. The only explanation that I could come up with was Husband’s inclusion allowed the author to get gratuitous religious imagery included a few times.
There were a bunch of times throughout the book when I was tempted to give up and stop reading. But, I kept plowing through, hoping it would improve. Unfortunately, the author was unable to make the material as interesting as it should have been.
I’m going to have to give this one a D. If the theses of the book was supposed to be that people have been wrong for over 200 years and Alexander Hamilton really had a very boring life, then the book would have succeeded on that front. But, that was not the case. Instead, we get a book that should have been very good in the hands of a capable author, but not in this one.
Before starting this book, I saw in my records that I had read Hogeland’s book, Declaration: The Nine Tumultougs Weeks When America Became Independent May 1-July 4, 1776, back on August 7, 2010. But, I have an X listed in the column for grade, since it was back in days when I had just been recording when I read books and was not giving them grades.
With a title like that, I would definitely have wanted to reread it and find out what the grade should be. But, after reading this Hamilton book, I have no confidence in this author’s ability to meet the low-hanging fruit of writing a good book when you have such a great topic to write about. So, it did not take me long to decide that that was not going to be one that I would want to reread.
Amazon, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a D equates to 1 star. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews. It will also be posted at Amazon, as soon as the book is released to the public on May 28.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on May 27, 2024.
Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. No review was required in return for an advance reading copy and no review was promised.
Mr. Book just finished The Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding, by William Hogeland.
The book started off with very high hopes. The author peaked my interest when he described what the book was going to be about. But, then hopes once I got into the body of the book.
This was not a well written book and for most of it, the book struggled to keep my interest. What should have been interesting material in the hands of another author just failed.
I was hoping that things would have turned around with the chapter on the Constitutional Convention. That was really the only high point of the book. My hopes that it would be the turning point were quickly dashed.
It took me a while to figure out why this Herman Husband character gets so much attention to the book. To those who are already familiar with Hamilton and are wondering who is this guy, I have to say you’re right. There’s a reason why, in his long masterpiece on Hamilton, Ron Chernow devoted a grand total of zero words to Herman Husband. The only explanation that I could come up with was Husband’s inclusion allowed the author to get gratuitous religious imagery included a few times.
There were a bunch of times throughout the book when I was tempted to give up and stop reading. But, I kept plowing through, hoping it would improve. Unfortunately, the author was unable to make the material as interesting as it should have been.
I’m going to have to give this one a D. If the theses of the book was supposed to be that people have been wrong for over 200 years and Alexander Hamilton really had a very boring life, then the book would have succeeded on that front. But, that was not the case. Instead, we get a book that should have been very good in the hands of a capable author, but not in this one.
Before starting this book, I saw in my records that I had read Hogeland’s book, Declaration: The Nine Tumultougs Weeks When America Became Independent May 1-July 4, 1776, back on August 7, 2010. But, I have an X listed in the column for grade, since it was back in days when I had just been recording when I read books and was not giving them grades.
With a title like that, I would definitely have wanted to reread it and find out what the grade should be. But, after reading this Hamilton book, I have no confidence in this author’s ability to meet the low-hanging fruit of writing a good book when you have such a great topic to write about. So, it did not take me long to decide that that was not going to be one that I would want to reread.
Amazon, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a D equates to 1 star. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews. It will also be posted at Amazon, as soon as the book is released to the public on May 28.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on May 27, 2024.
February 3, 2025
Alexander Hamilton has been called the "Forgotten Founding Father". Actually he has become the "Gumby" of American history. He has been made to play the good guy. He has been made to play the bad guy. He has been cast and recast through American history.
This is not the book that many are familiar with. This is NOT author Ron Chernow's landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton from 2005. That was a big seller and generally received rather well by the critics.
This book is not a biography, rather it is the history of the financial practices that were developed by the young Hamilton and the way that they shaped the U.S. economy, even to this day.
Hamilton began work on this while he was in his mid to late twenties at the bequest of wealthy revolutionary financiers such as Robert Morris.
While most of the founding fathers busied themselves back home in their own states, few were seriously concerned with finding a way to pay for the revolution.
Hamilton and his backers were determined to have a strong central government.
This is the story of how they "held the center" and helped the United States to lay the groundwork in building the world's largest economy with only 5% of the world's population.
If you are under the impression that the U.S. economy was designed to be fair to "the little guy", but somehow , over the years has drifted off center, you are very wrong.
It was designed to favor the very wealthy, the financiers, because they had it shaped that way from the start. Here is that story.
There are quite a few side stories here, like the Whiskey Rebellion and story of First Bank of the United States, (ever wonder why Andrew Jackson hated that institution so much?).
You are aware of course, of the untimely death of Hamilton, so here you are introduced to Albert Gallatin, the U.S. Treasury Secretary that continues in Hamilton's path is developing U.S. monetary policy.
This book brings to light the strangeness of the way the public view the Ying/Yang of the Hamilton -Jefferson feuding approaches to government.
The Epilogue cleans up the lingering questions with some amusing anecdotes on Lin-Manuel Miranda and how he reinvents Hamilton yet again in his Broadway play, and how Barack Obama adopted his version of Hamilton during the financial crisis of 2008/2009.
This is not the book that many are familiar with. This is NOT author Ron Chernow's landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton from 2005. That was a big seller and generally received rather well by the critics.
This book is not a biography, rather it is the history of the financial practices that were developed by the young Hamilton and the way that they shaped the U.S. economy, even to this day.
Hamilton began work on this while he was in his mid to late twenties at the bequest of wealthy revolutionary financiers such as Robert Morris.
While most of the founding fathers busied themselves back home in their own states, few were seriously concerned with finding a way to pay for the revolution.
Hamilton and his backers were determined to have a strong central government.
This is the story of how they "held the center" and helped the United States to lay the groundwork in building the world's largest economy with only 5% of the world's population.
If you are under the impression that the U.S. economy was designed to be fair to "the little guy", but somehow , over the years has drifted off center, you are very wrong.
It was designed to favor the very wealthy, the financiers, because they had it shaped that way from the start. Here is that story.
There are quite a few side stories here, like the Whiskey Rebellion and story of First Bank of the United States, (ever wonder why Andrew Jackson hated that institution so much?).
You are aware of course, of the untimely death of Hamilton, so here you are introduced to Albert Gallatin, the U.S. Treasury Secretary that continues in Hamilton's path is developing U.S. monetary policy.
This book brings to light the strangeness of the way the public view the Ying/Yang of the Hamilton -Jefferson feuding approaches to government.
The Epilogue cleans up the lingering questions with some amusing anecdotes on Lin-Manuel Miranda and how he reinvents Hamilton yet again in his Broadway play, and how Barack Obama adopted his version of Hamilton during the financial crisis of 2008/2009.
February 13, 2025
Most of this book is not really about Hamilton, but about the public debt of the United States during the Founding Fathers period, and the "scheme" or approach Hamilton took to deal with it. Other parts are about the basic conflict in American politics between "the democracy" and the elites, of whom Hamilton was one. The introduction of Herman Husband and other democratic opponents of the republican elite provides a direct and fascinating insight into why America is the way it is--or into the forces that dynamically recreate the democratic republican conflict over and over again.
The discussion of the debt is by far the best I've ever read. I have the illusion that I actually understand it now. What's really fascinating is the obvious similarities to what is happening today in America. As the book goes along, it pays to stop and think a bit about the similarities, then go back and understand what happened in the revolutionary period and the early American period. That will lead to a greater appreciation for the contradictions of today.
The Epilog takes the story forward all the way to Miranda's musical and its complete reinvention of Hamilton, completely burying the reality of the man. More importantly, the work ignores the real impact of Hamilton on the financial system of America, both in his time and at the present. This book is not really about Hamilton, and those looking for a biography should look elsewhere (perhaps avoiding Chernow if they're interested in real history). The paragraphs on the Obama administration and how it set the country up for Trump, or worse, is golden.
My only criticism of the book is that he's a bit harsh on Washington, but then I'm a Washington fan. Oh, and the sentence structure; some editing (OK, a lot of editing) would have helped the readability (or in my case listenability of the audio book). You lose track of the thought when sentences escape the 100-word boundary, kind of like the event horizon of a black hole. Still. An excellent book, if you pay attention to what it's saying.
The discussion of the debt is by far the best I've ever read. I have the illusion that I actually understand it now. What's really fascinating is the obvious similarities to what is happening today in America. As the book goes along, it pays to stop and think a bit about the similarities, then go back and understand what happened in the revolutionary period and the early American period. That will lead to a greater appreciation for the contradictions of today.
The Epilog takes the story forward all the way to Miranda's musical and its complete reinvention of Hamilton, completely burying the reality of the man. More importantly, the work ignores the real impact of Hamilton on the financial system of America, both in his time and at the present. This book is not really about Hamilton, and those looking for a biography should look elsewhere (perhaps avoiding Chernow if they're interested in real history). The paragraphs on the Obama administration and how it set the country up for Trump, or worse, is golden.
My only criticism of the book is that he's a bit harsh on Washington, but then I'm a Washington fan. Oh, and the sentence structure; some editing (OK, a lot of editing) would have helped the readability (or in my case listenability of the audio book). You lose track of the thought when sentences escape the 100-word boundary, kind of like the event horizon of a black hole. Still. An excellent book, if you pay attention to what it's saying.
July 3, 2024
I was provided an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review, which I am all too happy to give.
I have never read any work by this author before, but I am always drawn to books that are willing to delve into the parts of history that are usually not discussed. With the renewed interest in Alexander Hamilton after the musical, I wanted to see what Hogeland would bring to the table.
I was surprised to see so much detail and storytelling revolving around Herman Husband in this book. I only had a basic understanding of his importance in the time. It was nice to be able to have a better idea of how he fit into the landscape of the unstable early years of America, however I feel like there were times where the author lost sight of the purpose of his book and wanted to have Husband become the main character. There were many details and stories of Husband that did not lend any further understanding to Hamilton and his plans for the American government.
I think this book could have benefited from another round of editing to keep the information more streamlined. Reading the book, especially in the second half, it felt much longer than it actually was.
That said, I did enjoy the book, I learned a lot of new details I did not know and I appreciated showing the founding fathers in a more realistic light than a lot of people are willing to. These were men who wanted freedom, but wanted nothing more than to protect their own power and wealth.
Also, while I did have to speed up the audiobook, the narrator did do a great job. While keeping a consistent rhythm, it never felt monotone.
Thank you to NetGalley again, this was adventure I don't regret taking.
I have never read any work by this author before, but I am always drawn to books that are willing to delve into the parts of history that are usually not discussed. With the renewed interest in Alexander Hamilton after the musical, I wanted to see what Hogeland would bring to the table.
I was surprised to see so much detail and storytelling revolving around Herman Husband in this book. I only had a basic understanding of his importance in the time. It was nice to be able to have a better idea of how he fit into the landscape of the unstable early years of America, however I feel like there were times where the author lost sight of the purpose of his book and wanted to have Husband become the main character. There were many details and stories of Husband that did not lend any further understanding to Hamilton and his plans for the American government.
I think this book could have benefited from another round of editing to keep the information more streamlined. Reading the book, especially in the second half, it felt much longer than it actually was.
That said, I did enjoy the book, I learned a lot of new details I did not know and I appreciated showing the founding fathers in a more realistic light than a lot of people are willing to. These were men who wanted freedom, but wanted nothing more than to protect their own power and wealth.
Also, while I did have to speed up the audiobook, the narrator did do a great job. While keeping a consistent rhythm, it never felt monotone.
Thank you to NetGalley again, this was adventure I don't regret taking.
July 11, 2024
In this complex and technical historical biography, Hogeland joins the band of academics and writers focusing on Broadway’s favorite Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Bringing various elements of early American banking, public debt, manufacturing, and other facets of Hamiltonian economics into context, Hogeland explores how Hamilton’s financial plan could succeed at a time when ideas of wealth, democracy, and America were malleable. Exploring the growth of the Treasury department and the ideas and people behind his master plan for American economics, Hogeland has done a serious amount of historical research to create a more complete and complex picture of early American economic policy. Giving other figures more credit and spotlighting Hamilton’s economic influences, this book is a fascinating insight into eighteenth century economic theory and the historical situation in which Hamilton developed his ground-breaking plans. A technical read, this book is perhaps better suited to academics and historians, though an experienced lay history reader or Hamilton fan might be able to understand the technical nuances of this book. Disproving and clarifying some of the simplified history present in various pop culture interpretations of the Early Republic period, this is a fantastic companion piece to other history books about this period, especially for those interested in economics.
Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the advance copy.
Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the advance copy.
August 15, 2024
The Hamilton Scheme by William Hogeland is a terrific read, a page-turner in parts, providing a brilliant portrait of the lesser-known side of Hamilton in which he fiercely championed the financial structures that established the federal government we have today. Hogeland takes us back to moment zero in the US culture wars that continue to rage today, a time at which there were fierce battles, both literal and figurative, among those who wanted a centralized federal government vs. control by states, and among those dedicated to rule by the male elite vs. the general population, a concept frequently portrayed by the elite at the time as “mobocracy�. Hogeland also highlights several lesser-known figures who featured powerfully in these battles. He reveals in massive and convincing detail how Hamilton was a fascinating, flawed person, much more than a hip-hop hero. He was a financial genius, influential social innovator, and shameless elitist without whom we would not have the powerful central government and very biased financial systems we have today. A highly recommended read for those who want to understand this aspect of the American social genome.
October 7, 2024
This is a brilliant book; a must-read for anyone interested in how we got to the mess we find ourselves in� it's an in-depth history of the founding of our government and an analysis of the many different factions and campaigns that nearly didn’t find anything like our government, factions and campaigns that closely mirror those today that either endanger or aim to protect our way of life.
For instance� Democracy wasn’t something that any of our “founding fathers� ever aimed for; the word was never included in any draft of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution� it was simply the name given to the egalitarian working-class group who balked at the laws favoring the investor class who were calling the shots. The Democracy, along with the Committee of Privates, briefly broke away from the rule of law in Pennsylvania, toppled the government of the state, and, as a result, tipped the vote in the Continental Congress to proclaim independence from Britain. An outcome breathtakingly close to other possible outcomes� and it’s like that throughout most of the book. Fascinating.
For instance� Democracy wasn’t something that any of our “founding fathers� ever aimed for; the word was never included in any draft of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution� it was simply the name given to the egalitarian working-class group who balked at the laws favoring the investor class who were calling the shots. The Democracy, along with the Committee of Privates, briefly broke away from the rule of law in Pennsylvania, toppled the government of the state, and, as a result, tipped the vote in the Continental Congress to proclaim independence from Britain. An outcome breathtakingly close to other possible outcomes� and it’s like that throughout most of the book. Fascinating.
February 22, 2025
I thought that this book was absolutely fascinating and really changed my perspective on how American history is told. Doing a deep dive on the financial policy, how it was established and most importantly the “whys� behind it was 🤯 at times the grammar was not the best/there was missing punctuation. But this book was absolutely worth the read. I recommend this to anyone who wants to understand the financial ideas of our federal government.
But prepared to be slightly disappointed (or majorly) because Hamilton is not who you think he is. I have read other Hamilton biographies before but they mostly glossed over the financial system founding and i felt that this biography provided much more insight. The epilogue did a fantastic job of explaining the US economy / banking crises and use of political parties from Andrew Jackson’s presidency to nearly present day.
But prepared to be slightly disappointed (or majorly) because Hamilton is not who you think he is. I have read other Hamilton biographies before but they mostly glossed over the financial system founding and i felt that this biography provided much more insight. The epilogue did a fantastic job of explaining the US economy / banking crises and use of political parties from Andrew Jackson’s presidency to nearly present day.
December 15, 2024
A decidedly different take on the economic history and disputes over power in founding and first decades of the US government . No hiding of author’s agenda and support for early radicals such as those invoked in Shay’s rebellion and the Whiskey Tax revolt . Thomas Paine presented in a different light than usual . Besides the ideas of Hamilton those of Albert Gallatin are carefully discussed . I have read frequently about this period and enjoyed the author’s different perspective and more thorough discussion of early oppositions to policies and actions . The epilogue which is a précis of economic policy from Gallatin through Obama and the popular perceptions of both Jefferson and Hamilton through that period was insightful . A very stimulating book that is well written
May 19, 2024
Behind the myth, Alexander Hamilton developed a visionary yet polarizing economic blueprint which spurred explosive growth and bitter battles over democracy itself. This portrayal of Hamilton and those who opposed him reveals the conflict between the American oligarchy and the everyday Americans who fought for the rights of full citizenship.
This compelling audiobook is brilliantly narrated by the author. It’s interesting, informative, and easy to read. I enjoyed the human stories and the intellectual debates that helped forge the early United States.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
This compelling audiobook is brilliantly narrated by the author. It’s interesting, informative, and easy to read. I enjoyed the human stories and the intellectual debates that helped forge the early United States.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
August 19, 2024
This book was ineresting because it highlights other interests in early American economic policy, especially Albert Gallatin, Robert Chase, etc.. as well as dissenting populist movements such as the Regulators and Herman Husband (who I definitely want to read more about). It does a good job explaining Hamilton's economic program as well as its strong, almost monarchical, government control over debt and money. Hogeland ends with an appeal to study not just Hamilton, Jefferson, and Jackson for American economic history, but the supporting cast that stymied, dissented, and were impacted by Hamilton's economic scheme.
October 18, 2024
What a great book on topic, generally perceived as BOR-ing. Mr Hogeland brings the people, situations, personalities, and conflicts to life. He explains what is being done and what is going on in a clear precise way. He is able to synthesize what is going on and why without copious or lengthy quoting from the originals. That said, he footnotes detail sources and other suggested readings. His bibliography is deep and broad. He also provides further footnoting, as well as Errata, on line. I would recommend this book as must reading, especially those who are uncomfortable with the other side.
November 12, 2024
This book was a page turner. I was pleased to be introduced to many figures of influence from the 1770s through to the 1820s that I was not familiar with. I only knew of Gallatin as the founder of NYU. Paine’s, whose history I thought I knew, was more than the author of Common Sense. The authors detailed explanations of the early efforts to create a true democracy again was a story I do not recall reading elsewhere. This was a book and historian well worth being acquainted with. PS: The start date and finish date for reading book are misleading. I had borrowed the book from the library and had to return it and then wait to borrow it again.
September 18, 2024
This book provides an historical look at “the conflicts over money and power that really created the United States of America� through the figures and events surrounding Alexander Hamilton. It contains a look at many not-often recounted characters who allegedly influenced the establishment of the US Treasury and it’s impact on the politics and policies that make up how the government works. This is a thought provoking analysis of what many might consider obscure facts not normally discussed or taught.
November 25, 2024
Promising start, but quickly pivoted from Alexander Hamilton to unrelated nonsense about inequality, “the rich�, religion, and other lefty drivel. Easily one of the lowest quality books on the founding of America that I’ve read. Nobody wants to read your thinly veiled politics masquerading as non-fiction history, no matter which side you’re on.
2-stars because there were a few (but only a few) sections of untarnished historical facts. There are much better books out there covering this time period.
2-stars because there were a few (but only a few) sections of untarnished historical facts. There are much better books out there covering this time period.
November 27, 2024
Debt. What is it? Apparently, a bet about what the states would become. Hogeland writes a compelling narrative about how Hamilton guided through a variety of means toward a federal government taking on debt to unify the states. The Bank of England was the reference. Ditch the monarch but retain the financing of empire. This was an especially interesting read after "Ways and Means" by Roger Lowenstein, which focused on how the Union financed the U.S. Civil War. Finance is an interesting lens to examine U.S. history. Not always the most engrossing.
October 3, 2024
There is a lot of good to great content in the book which other reviewers have done an excellent
job of summarizing. However, the book is pretty poorly written. There are a lot of redundancy, long run on sentences, narratives which go all over the place. Honestly, it was a slog to get through it. The author needs to seriously consider getting a new editor and trim the book by about 50 pages.
job of summarizing. However, the book is pretty poorly written. There are a lot of redundancy, long run on sentences, narratives which go all over the place. Honestly, it was a slog to get through it. The author needs to seriously consider getting a new editor and trim the book by about 50 pages.
September 5, 2024
Nothing bores me more than banking and finance, but this book is so well-written that I even got really into it! Fast moving and full of fascinating forgotten historical figures, it really teaches that America was designed as, and has always been first and foremost a playground for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of the common people.
June 10, 2024
I would give this book more stars if I could. Hogeland is a both entertaining and informative. He tells the stories that should be widely known but are scarcely told. I have waited a long time for his Hamilton book, I am disappointed to have finished it.
October 26, 2024
Would not have thought!
Great read because it engages you although it may be lengthy it is a necessary contribution to historical knowledge. You are sure to feel your mind being twisted in a new direction.
Great read because it engages you although it may be lengthy it is a necessary contribution to historical knowledge. You are sure to feel your mind being twisted in a new direction.
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