Alexander Hamilton is the man with his face on the ten dollar bill, but people know little else about him other than that. He is a Founding Father who receives very little acknowledgement for his work in shaping our country. He was often controversial and contradictory, and was one of the very few Founding Fathers to suggest a monarchial style for America’s newly birthed government. His foresight would become invaluable to our country, as his forward way of thinking depicts American culture in its modern state, perhaps more so than any other Founding Father had in mind. He was as controversial in death as he was in life, dying in a duel to Aaron Burr; the only Founding Father to die in such a fashion. Hamilton had the foresight to see what …show more content…
As a Federalist he believed the central government should hold the most power and influence over everything else. He thought the people themselves favored a government where the power was directly out of their control. He became critical of the other national delegates’ plan for ratification stating that it was more of the same as the Articles of Confederation (Lack et al, 1987.) Hamilton thought the people’s role in government to be that of a liability. He stated that the people were constantly changing in their attitudes and dispositions, and could not be trusted to make a sound judgement or do what was right for the nation.
Hamilton would be the first Secretary of the Treasury, and proposed the First National Bank (Ulin, 2004). During his time as treasurer he worked tirelessly to erase the national debt brought upon by the Revolutionary War, and the United States’ need to borrow money from other nations to aid in its victory. One of his solutions to the debt problem was the implementation of a national tax program, and the proposition to create different methods of taxation. He also helped in the much needed establishment of credit with other nations, and founded the United States Mint (Green,