How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America

Dr. McClanahan does a wonderful job in showing the original intent of the founding generation of the United States Constitution. Hamilton, lied several times,and was without question promoting the Central government to be the power of the land. I love the fact he goes back to the ratification debates to show what the majority of the founders intended. Dr. McClanahan shows conclusively, that most if the founding generation that supported the ratification of the constitution knew what Hamilton was up to, many if not most would not have voted for ratification. This opened the door for Chief Justice John Marshall and Justice Black and others written about in the book to completely manipulate the intentions of the founders and give the central government powers never intended by those in the founding generation that voted for ratification. The book is just a great read and is really hard to put down, it is well written and keeps the reader engaged throughout. Every American should read this book. Hamilton is a very interesting founder, he without doubt set the stage for what our government has become, a powerful central government that has usurped the rights of the States. For me this book has sparked an interest in reading more about Hamilton and the Federalist's as well as Jefferson and the Republican's -States rights versus a strong many times overbearing central government, Hamilton set the stage for the strong central government and used deceit or whatever method's required to promote and set in place his view of what our nation should be and has become. I am going to get his other books as well, this one is not politically correct his research is really top notch.

The Constitution of the United States of America is not a long document. It's not particularly esoteric in its language, and as such should be understood by anyone who chooses to read it. Yet there are people who read the same words and come to completely different conclusions. Brion McClanahan details the differences between those two interpretations by focusing on Alexander Hamilton's own arguments, which demonstrate both interpretations depending entirely on which would benefit Alexander Hamilton at the time he made them. I appreciate the bibliography, an aspect of good non-fiction the importance of which I have learned through painful experience. If you cannot verify the author's interpretation of a text, well, we're right back to the state of current mainstream "Constitutional" scholarship which looks at Supreme Court decisions without ever reading the Constitution itself! The current Hamilton worship being promulgated is, I think, an effort to reinforce the "general powers" interpretation which Hamilton explicitly denied in his efforts to get the Constitution ratified, and then argued for once it was he who was in power. It may also have something to do with the fact that basic logic is no longer taught in the government "schools", just in case someone would notice that plain reading of the Constitution, the 9th, and 10th Amendments, make clear that the Federal government is one of expressly delegated powers and nothing else. McClanahan also hits the Hamiltonian highlights of so-called "Constitutional Law" as demonstrated in Supreme Court decisions over the years which have expanded Federal powers over every aspect of human life, turning the States into mere administrative districts of the Federal government. There is no way to prevent the collapse of the American Empire. It will fail, as all empires have fallen through history. Maybe, just maybe, whatever it is people try to do next time to facilitate trade and provide a framework for Liberty will be informed by Brion's examples of how one man's pragmatic opportunism helped destroy the great effort at Liberty which began in 1775.

There are many examples of Alexander Hamilton in this book of how he pretended to be and think like the republic ideals in the constitution, but acted way different in his true beliefs. He manipulated through writing papers of persuasive language to confuse people and make them question themselves. It was quite effective too. He had a hold of the rudder quite a bit and led the ship astray on many occasions. I think this book covers very well into who was the real Hamilton.

The author tells the story of the evolution of the nationalist legal doctrine in the US. That is, how the states eventually became subordinates to the US Constitution. We see how the nationalist vision began in the pre-Constitution debates and carried forward for two more centuries. Hamilton is the original villain, although the author is a little short on examples and it feels that he is reaching at times. Also, Washington clearly sides with Hamilton in many cases and seems to avoid the author’s blame. Why? The next villains are justices Marshall and Story and the author does an excellent job showing their misinterpretation of the Constitution. The saga reaches its conclusion in 1940s era when justice Black completes the nationalist transformation and establishes the states as clearly subordinate to the US Constitution. Overall, a very interesting read and enlightening exposé on how the original vision for a decentralized federal system in the US was gradually corrupted.