Saturday, June 6, 2015

On the Fact that Professors at Hillsdale College (in Conjunction with Their New Course on the Federalist Papers) Are Asserting that Alexander Hamilton Was One of the Chief Architects of the Constitution

It is total bullshit. As WestConn historian and author, Kevin Gutzman, has repeatedly pointed out in his scathing indictment of the course (citing numerous errors and trashing their conclusions), this Hamilton fellow a) left the Philadelphia convention early on and remained away for a month, b) wasn't even afforded a vote on the final product, and c) had made it abundantly clear that he didn't like the document and even said that it wasn't appreciably better than the Articles of Confederation. I mean, I know that Colleges like Hillsdale have a proclivity to glorify past historical figures and all (I'm also picking up a neoconservative vibe of late) but you have to be at least a little careful with the basics, for Christ.  

3 comments:

Les Carpenter said...

Hamilton was quite influential and had Washington's and Adam's ears among others. He was an early statist who believed in a strong centralized government.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Dude wanted a President and Senators elected for life. What could possibly go wrong there?

dmarks said...

Nothing at all could go wrong, according to those who believe that our elected representatives are entitled to do anything they damn please, as long as it is a democracy. (The view of some progressives: the idea of a fascist dictatorship being fine as long as truly democratic elections put the despots on the throne. To them, the despots are "We the People")