my question has to do with teddy roosevelt's liking of alexander hamilton. can you explain a little bit of how roosevelt would have admired hamilton, being a progressive president, how would he have admired hamilton and writes about him in a positive way. >> yeah. it's interesting that hamilton's historic reputation has waxed and waned. certainly one period with it waxed was during the progressive era. teddy roosevelt, as well as his successor, william howard taft, thought that alexander hamilton was the greatest of all of the founders. i think that what you found in teddy roosevelt is very much the same combination of views that you find in hamilton on the one hand is a belief in energetic and affirmative central government and kind of robust political leadership. there is, i described hamilton before as an ambivalent revolutionary. i think that you find reflected in teddy roosevelt that same kind of ambivalence let's say about business. he is a great booster of business. he also wants to regulate business. so that a lot of the contradictions of alexander ha

and in 1785, one of hamilton's pals, alexander hamilton, and 31 other new yorkers founded a group called the new york society. their long range goal was to end slavery in the state of new york. now, it took until 1827. long after hamilton was dead. madison still alive. it took 42 years for this to happen. but it happened because some leaders decided to begin the process to stick with it. so eventually slavery in new york was in the. madison did nothing of the kind in virginia. george washington, another dear friend of madisons, about 10 years, washington freed all the slaves as well. madison didn't do that. and he had some younger idealistic friends, also virginians, it would free their own slaves who were disappointed he had not done so. he had a younger wife who was no longer with them so they didn't have his free hand. dolly was much younger and james madison, much younger and martha washington was younger than george. in fact, quite a bit older than george. so when george washington freed all his slaves, that was living martha for years and years and years to live without slaves. mad

but that project was alexander hamilton, pick the author, madison or john j.in addition to himself, and wrote three-fifths of the 85 papers. the strongest argument for ratifying the constitution reads -- was the approval of george washington say goodbye is present at the convention and his quiet support afterwards. madison understood that washington was the heavyweight champion of american public life, which is why he stuck by him like a trainer from the planning stages of the convention to the early days of washington's president. finally, the resistance of the constitution's opponents like madison's in the patrick henry, obliged the constitution supporters to offer something that they as authors had neglected to provide, a bill of rights. that only madison played a central role at every stage in the constitution's birth. he was present before, at and after the creation. he was a delegate to the annapolis convention of 1786 which called for the convention in philadelphia a year later. when a philadelphia convention met in 1787, he arrived, the first out of to

alexander hamilton was appointed the first u.s. treasury secretary on september 11th, 1789.

actually a cancer on the buoyancy of american economic life or actually is it something since alexander hamilton that has been a part of american life. you know, we're tauk being theore roosevelt, not franklin roosevelt as well. we're talking about a continuous strand in the american dna that was not always crazy, hostile to the notion of not the heavy-handed of government but that government should actually have some sense of benevolent vigilance, really about. theodore roosevelt was a trust buster because he saw the market was not capable of regulating itself. and it's impeccable reb can view. i would love to see an all-out political debate on television, mod vate-- moderated by you in t's say next spring. next summer. >> rose: i'll make the request right now. we'll do it at this table. >> good. >> rose: and we're about to find out who is as good articulating their poi of view as you are in articulating yours and we'll have have at it. and our question is as simple as what is the role of government in our soety. >> how much governme. nor, the great question i think from the federalist paper, f

lowest bidders around the world well forgetting that our nation's first treasury secretary alexander hamilton george washington's treasury secretary laid out an eleven point plan literally called the american way that promoted protectionism and promoted american industries and not so-called free trade these guys give millionaires and billionaires the power to run amok in our politics claiming that corporations are people and as people we have the right to free speech and to dump as much money into our elections as they develop leads while forgetting that none of the founding fathers considered corporations important enough to even mention them in our nation's constitution and that the author of the declaration of independence and self thomas jefferson had a deep seated mistrust of too much corporate power and fought tirelessly to include freedom from anomalies in the bill of rights jefferson described corporate powers the powers that be as the selfish spirit of commerce that knows no country and feels no passion or principle but that of gain jefferson's tradition was carried out by both repub

. >> reporter: in new york, a $400 million renovation of the alexander hamilton bridge. in california, a whopper, a $7.2 billion new bridge to connect san francisco and oakland. and in alaska, a proposed $190 million bridge project. sounds like a great opportunity for government spending to actually lead to real jobs. the problem? much of the work is going to chinese government-owned contracting firms. >> when we're subsidizing jobs in china, we're not creating any wealth in the united states. >> reporter: in alaska, outraged union workers took to the airwaves with an obvious point. >> this is not the time to send more jobs to china. our tax dollars will provide hundreds of jobs there, not at home. >> reporter: u.s. law actually requires major infrastructure projects to buy america when the cost difference is reasonable. in california, u.s. firms say they would have met those guidelines, but state officials decided to turn down federal money for a major part of the bridge, allowing a chinese company to get the job. at a cost of almost 3,000 american jobs and a potential

boarders call alexander hamilton a fascist because he believed that the federal government should it was a summit royal. but that he did that because he believed in you know he believed in more government than people at that time were you sure well so you don't you have to take it i think you have to take that in context but to the to this issue of regulating banks right you know rolling back. gramley while and bringing back glass steagall for example and these sorts of things are are you in favor of reregulating the banks of the pretty regulated already you would. flee in with the new dog frank don't let me show you a graphic that we have this is this is the history of the united states and we will have it on this monitor here these are bank panics not depressions with bank panics major bank failures and you know that it's behind us as well as over here and the first major one eight hundred one thousand nine hundred thirty seven eight hundred forty seven hundred fifty seven that really kicked off the civil war eight hundred seventy three eight hundred eighty four eight hundred ninet

they have forgotten vice president aaron burr killed secretary treasury alexander hamilton. they forgot congressman houston was walking down the street to washington one day, came across a congressman from ohio who oppose andrew jackson's indian policy and started caning him for which he was censured. they forgot there was a south carolina congressman who came before the senate and nearly killed by hitting him with a stick a senator from massachusetts. they have forgotten another senator from massachusetts named henry lodge stood on the floor of the senate and said of the president of the united states i hate that man. we forgot his compromises. the debate that were held in the mccarthy days. the watergate debate and the vietnam debate. the difference today between the debate in washington and the debate in history are that today because we have so much media everybody hears everything instantly. most of the people shouting at each other on television have never been elected to anything. it would help if we knew each other better across party lines but to suggest we should b

success which has five parts and goes back all the way to the beginning of the remember to alexander hamilton. if we look to basic american values we've drifted away from and the essence of amera we will find we have what it takes to master the challenges as long as we can get our act together. one message of the book is we can do it. the other message is here's what we have to do that we're not doing in order to thri in the future. >> chaie: and what do we hav to do at we're not doing? >> well, there's a huge education challenge. in fact almost a quarter of the book is taken up with education. globalization in the i.t. revolution put enormous pressure on every job. there are two billion more people in the global work force than there were 20 years ago. that creates enormous opportunities for the united states. it's a win-win situation but there's much more competition for every job and that means that everybody has to be better at his or her job and it means that in order to solve our jobs crisis we have to invent more jobs and the burden ultimately rests on the education system. we need mor

>>reporter: in new york 400 million dollar wren 0vision of the alexander hamilton bridge.alifornia whopper. 7.2 billion dollar new bridge to connect san francisco and oakland. and in alaska, proposed 190 million dollar bridge project. sounds lake a great opportunity for government spend to go lead to real jobs. the problem? much of the work is going to chinese government owned contracting firms. >> when we are subsidizing jobs in china we are not creating any wealth in the united state states. >>reporter: u.s. law actually requires major fravbing project tobingts buy america. cost difference is reasonable. in california u.s. firms say they would have met those guideline guidelines. state officials decided to turn down federal money for a major part of the bridge allowing a chinese company to get the job. at cost of almost 3000 american jobs and potential 1 billion dollar boost to the struggling california economy. >> it would have had a multi-play effect because it would have not only given thousands of californians jobs but also the subsequent spending would have been rei

it goes back to alexander hamilton, abraham lincoln, all the successful presidents. built on five basic principles. education, the best infrastructure, the best education, immigration attracting the world's most energetic and talented people, the best rules for investing and government-funded research. where we've gone off the rails, if you look at all five of those pillars of success. and they are there throughout our history. you'll see that in the last two decades, the arrow is pointing down on all five. i tell you, we start to turn the arrows up on all five, and we do have the resources to do that, if we can cut some spending, raise some revenue, and invest where we need to invest, we do that, i tell you, you turn this ship up i think rather quilkly. to me, america is like the space shuttle, all that thrust coming from below. but the booster rocket, washington, d.c. is cracked right now. and the pilots in the cockpit are fighting over the flight plan. so we can't achieve the escape velocity we need to get into the next industrial orbit. i tell you, you fix that b

in the federalist papers, alexander hamilton says, the judiciary is the weakest of the three branches and will inevitably lose in a fight with the two elected branches, the legislative and executive. in the judicial reform act of 1802, thomas jefferson, the secretary of state was james madison -- so you have to assume that the two of them knew something about the constitution. they abolished 18 out of 35 federal judges. they say, go away, you do not have a job anymore. some of them tried to file a lawsuit claiming it was unconstitutional. and the judges said, are you crazy? if we agree to hear the lawsuit, they will abolish our offices. is a huge fight. people forget that in the declaration of independence -- look at it some time and look at the number of citations of british judges. the second most popular complaint of the american people have turner taxation without representation was imperial british judges acting as dictators. when you have a judge who in san antonio on june 1 issued a ruling that not only could students not pray at a high school graduation, but they could not use

first part of the 19th century, he's the bridge between alexander hamilton and abraham lincoln.the idea that government had a significant role to pli. i mean, it's curious, conservatives in the 19th century, believed in using government as an agent of capitalist development. >> ifill: not so much now. >> absolutely. just the opposite. clay was like the speaker of the house on the day he arrived in the house of representatives. he, of course, was known as the great compromisers. the last one in 1850 arguably delayed the civil war for 10 years, which gave the north an opportunity to become that much stronger and equally important allowed abraham lincoln to emerge from obscurity. >> ifill: let me throw out a couple of names. al smith. >> al smith, in many ways, is the farther of the modern democratic party. before franklin roosevelt, al smith-- do you know the last republican presidential candidate to carry new york city? calvin coolidge in 1924. four years later, the candidate is al smith, a catholic, with the immigrant experience, the modern-- before the new deal, it's al smith w

alexander hamilton. >> don't you think peter has done a great job? >> he's done a great job. >> it's all up from here. >> why do you hate when loving would be so much better. >> i am a lover, not a fighter. >> how did the giants do last night? >> the season ended in april so i couldn't tell you. >>> coming up on "morning joe," lesley stahl will be here and eugene robinson. up next, john harris takes a behind the scenes now. he is preparing to moderate next week's republican debate. >> really? there's another one coming up? >> there is. >> here is todd santos with a check on the weather. todd. >> good morning, guys. a jam packed weather rundown when you talk about the action going on. tropical storm 13. a big impact for the beach weekend. it's a slow mover. at this point, it's called stationary. as far as the rainshowers, that's one of the biggest issues across the gulf coast. portions of southern louisiana and tropical storm warnings for the coast of louisiana and southern mississippi. here is a look at the track. things get moving later on today. we

. >> in alexander hamilton you went to an extent with the marquee delafayette's relationship with mr. hamilton. how did washington take the french outlook and help in the war to the extent there was any, and how did, how did he accept foreign support during the revolution -- >> how did he accept foreign support, you know, with difficulty. all these french officers who came over during the revolutionary war, many of them came over for very self-interested reasons, you know, they wanted to earn battlefield glory, and can they felt they would then go back to france and get a promotion. and a lot of them couldn't even speak english. and so washington really felt that it was, you know, the bane of his life as commander in chief that he's had to placate all of these french officers who came over. in fact, the story with lafayette is very interesting because lafayette comes over at the age of 19. he quips a ship with -- equips a ship with provisions and munitions. he goes to philadelphia armed with a letter from benjamin franklin and franklin writes to the continental congress, you know, ple

it was alexander hamilton, secretary of treasury, henry knox, secretary of war, and thomas jefferson, secretary of state. everyone in the room can agree pound for pound the best cabinet we will ever have by far. he assembles the american all-star team. like all great executives washington was not afraid to hire people who were smarter than he was, although he was very smart. he felt fully confident to be able to control these had strong prima donnas. i know we are all kind of gazing back nostalgically. at think it is right to do so in terms of the brilliance and the area addition and integrity of these people, but it was a nasty political time. i did a piece for the "wall street journal" last summer on the founders. for instance, john adams, benjamin franklin, his entire life has been one continued insult to decency and good manners. franklin said of atoms, he is always an autumn honest man, sometimes a wise man, but sometimes absolutely out of his senses. this is kid stuff compared to adams and hamilton. adams called hamilton the bastard brand of scotch peddler. he said the hamilton

in the federalist papers, alexander hamilton spoke of the necessity of a capable military to defend the liberties enshrined in the constitution. president reagan had the courage to make hamilton's insight global. he recognize the profound wisdom in making peace america's profession. but he also understood that he's never comes to powers that lie dormant and withdrawn -- peace never comes to power is that lie dormant and withdrawn. the all the way to have peace is to proliferate power. reagan restored faith in our military. by doing so, he restored faith in our ideals and ultimately the american experience. what made reagan so pioneering is that he truly believed that liberty should not be a luxury reserved for well-off western powers. he in addition to the united states military as something more than a barricade -- he envisioned as the united states military is something more than a barricade against the soviet military trade he envisioned it as a tool to make a well -- make the world a better place and he did so without firing a single shot at the evil empire. the threat of the soviet

alexander hamilton 200 years ago warned that this would happen if we did not protect our manufacturing sector. america today is dependent on china, on japan, and mexico, and other countries, to make the clothes and the parts that we need it to supply our armed forces. sadly, our president has no clue as to what the problem is. he looks at the symptoms and thinks they are the problem. he doesn't understand why throwing more and more stimulus money into the economy does not stimulate any improvements. here's why. he thinks that we must spend hundreds of millions of dollars retraining unemployed workers. retraining them for what? there are no jobs. our jobs are in china. is he going to retrain americans to speak mandarin because vacant -- so they can move to try and work a 10-hour day for a wage of 50 cents an hour? i say, no thank you. to your jobs plan. when our president talks about increasing federal spending to stimulate the economy and create jobs, he doesn't understand that the people who receive the money use most of it to buy everyday consumer goods made in foreign countries. the

branches, it's the third branch mentioned in the constitution, and in the federalist papers, alexander hamiltonicitly, it will be the weakest of the three branches. and so i think for the congress to begin a systematic process, one part of which is to eliminate the right of the courts to review certain things, and to recognize, we're going to have a big fight with the lawyer class. i mean, this is going to be -- >> what do you have in mind, speaker gingrich, congress's power under article 3 to regulate the jurisdiction of the supreme court? >> absolutely, among other things. i would also look very carefully at jefferson in 1802, passes the reform act of 1802. the 17th judges said are you crazy? if we accept your lawsuit, jefferson will eliminate our court. now, i am not -- i want to be clear here. i am not as bold as thomas jefferson. i would do no more than eliminate judge barry and san antonio and the ninth circuit. that's the most i would go for. but let me say this. that's part of the national debate. that's not a rhetorical comment. i believe the legislative and executive branches have an

they have forgotten that vicehat president burr killed formeralkg secretary of secretary alexander hamilton. they have forgotten that hungmar that -- congressman houston was walkingomho down the streets of washington one day and came across the congressman from ohio and started gaining him for which he was censured. they have forgotten there was al south carolina congressman he came over here before the senate andled nearly killed by hitting them from massachusetts. c of and they have forgotten another senator from massachusetts named henry cabot lodge did on th floor of the senate and said of the president of the united states, woodrow wilson, i hate man. they forgot about henry clay's compromises and the debates that were held during the army mccarthy days. and what of the watergate debates and what of the vietnam debates? the main difference today between the debates in washington and the debates in ey history are that todayth because we have so much media, everybody hears everything instantly. t if you would notice, most of thv peoplee who are shouting at ea. other on television or radi

you studied political silence, go back and study the history and see what to john adams and alexander hamiltons jefferson had to say about the media. the median rate them over the coals. a lot of it was malicious and untrue. the media has always been a part of the problem with politics. it is part of why america is as great as it is. >> we will turn over here. >> my name is ryan and my student at university of tampa florida. some people think the institution of the senate has become a problem. there are too many obstructionist tactics and the institution needs to be reformed. do you agree or disagree? >> i think that reform or ways to improve an institution should be on the table. with cooperation from harry reid and mitch mcconnell senator schumer, the democrat and republican came up with reforms this year. you can always find ways to do that. the problem with the senate is not rules for the institution. it is the people. i had that conversation. we were voting on a 70 amendments. most of us did not know or care about and men's because it was part of the problems. why are we here and looking

people want to say, oh, it's always been like this, and remember the alexander hamilton, but over theg worse and worse and worse over time. probably best summed up by a line of tip o'neill's when he retired. ask how congress had changed. the people are better. the results are worse. >> what you're seeing now, in fact, you suggested in your article that we've really crossed the line into dysfunction, but as i said in the intro, we're trying to figure out how we solve this. we've got the same political parties as we've had for generations. what is it we have to do differently to try and make washington a little more functional? >> i said, the people are better. this is not about improving human capital or getting people to have dinner more often. we need institutional change. what's going on, the american system of government is acting like the british system of government. we have two parties that are more and more disciplined, that have harder and harder ideological disagreements and won't cooperate. the problem is, this is a system of government that is not the british system of gove

one noamplet they've forgotten that vice president burr killed former secretary of treasury alexander hamilton. they've forgotten that congressman houston was walking down the streets of washington one day, came across a congressman from ohio who opposed andrew jackson's indian policy and starting caning him, for which he was cren siewmpletd they've forgotten that there was a south carolina congressman who came to the floor of senate and nearly killed behighting him with a stirks the senator from massachusetts and they've forgot than another senator from massachusetts named henry cabot lodge stood on the floor of the senate and said of the united states of presiden president, it man. they forgot about henry clay's compromises and the debates that were held during the army mccarthy days and what of the watergate debates and vietnam debates? the main difference today between the debates in washington and the debates in history are that today, because we have so much media, everybody hears everything instantly. if you would notice, most of the people who are shouting at each other on television o

and they for got the alexander hamilton was killed. and congressman houston was walking down the streeted of washington one day, came across a congressman from ohio who opposed andrew jackson's indian policy, and started caning him, for which he was censured. there was a south carolina congressman who came over here before the senate and nearly killed by hitting him with a stick a senator from massachusetts, and they've forgotten another senator from massachusetts, named henry cabot lodge, stood on the floor of the senate and said to woodrow wilson, i hate that man. forgot about henry clay's compromises and the debates held during the army mccarthy day, and what of the watergate debates and the vietnam debates? the main difference today between the debates in washington and the debates in history, are that today, because we have so much media, everybody hears everything instantly. if you would notice, most of the people who are shouting at each other on television or radio are the internet have never been elected to anything. it would

one noamplet they've forgotten that vice president burr killed former secretary of treasury alexander hamilton. they've forgotten that congressman houston was walking down the streets of washington one day, came across a congressman from ohio who opposed andrew jackson's indian policy and starting caning him, for which he was cren siewmpletd they've forgotten that there was a south carolina congressman who came to the floor of senate and nearly killed behighting him with a stirks the senator from massachusetts and they've forgot than another senator from massachusetts named henry cabot lodge stood on the floor of the senate and said of the united states of presiden president, it man. they forgot about henry clay's compromises and the debates that were held during the army mccarthy days and what of the watergate debates and vietnam debates? the main difference today between the debates in washington and the debates in history are that today, because we have so much media, everybody hears everything instantly. if you would notice, most of the people who are shouting at each other on television o

[applause] >> alexander hamilton wrote the federalist papers, the judicial branch would by definitionest of the three branches and it would always lose a fight with the executive and legislative branches. i want to promise you that a key part of my campaign is to ensure that we implement what hamilton said. that we rebalance the constitution. that we teach the judges that they are, in fact, our servants, not our dictators, that they, in fact, should obey american history and the american constitution. with your help, i want you to be with me for the next eight years. thank you. good luck and god bless you. ♪ [applause] ♪ [applause] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, a great chairman. thank you all. it is great to be back in florida and an honor, obviously, to be back at cpac. it's a place where the seeds of conservative ideas are sown and tended, invigorating our party and i might add in doing so, the health of our country as well. and it's good to be with friends. let me share that with you. you know, when i had the last privilege of being in your company this last february i was just one of

studying political science and history, go back and study the history and see what john adams and alexander hamilton and thomas jefferson had to say about the media. the media just rake them over the coals. the case of thomas jefferson, a lot of it up was malicious and untrue. the media has always been part of the problem of politics and part of why america is as great as it is. freedom of the press -- i hate it and i loved it. >> i am a stint at the university of tampa, florida. some people think the institution of the united states senate has become a problem, there are too many obstructionist tactics and procedural delays and it needs to be reformed. do you agree or disagree with that? >> i think reform or ways to improve an institution should always be on the table. with cooperation from harry reid and mitch mcconnell, senator schumer and center lamar alexander did come up with some reforms this year, and you can always find ways to do that. the problem is not the rules, not the institution, it is the people. i had that conversation and not standing in from the chamber where we were having one o

studying political science and history, go back and study the history and see what john adams and alexander hamilton and thomas jefferson had to say about the media. the media just raked them over the coals. a lot of it, in the case of thomas jefferson, a lot of it up was malicious and untrue. the media has always been part of the problem of politics and part of why america is as great as it is. freedom of the press -- i hate it and i love it. >> hello. i'm a student at the university of tampa, florida. some people think the institution of the united states senate has become a problem, there are too many obstructionist tactics and procedural delays and it needs to be reformed. do you agree or disagree with that? >> you knew the rules better than anyone else. >> no, not necessarily. i think that reform or ways to improve an institution should always be on the table. as a matter of fact, with cooperation from harry reid and mitch mcconnell, senator schumer and senator lamar alexander did come up with some reforms this year, and you can always find ways to do that. the problem is not the rules, not the

in the federalist papers, alexander hamilton says, the judiciary is the weakest of the three branches and will inevitably lose in a fight with the two elected branches, the legislative and executive. in the judicial reform act of 1802, thomas jefferson, the secretary of state was james madison -- so you have to assume that the two of them knew something about the constitution. theybolished 18 out of 35 federal judges. they say, go away, you do not have a job anymore. some of them tried to file a lawsuit claiming it was unconstitutional. and the judges said, are you crazy? if we agree to hear the lawsuit, they will abolish our offices. is a huge fight. people forget that in the declaration of independence -- look at it some time and look at the number of citations of british judges. the second mostopular complaint of the amecan people have turner taxation without representation was imperial british judges acting as dictators. when you have a judge who in san antonio on june 1 issued a ruling that not only could students not pray at a high school graduion, but they could not use the wor

[applause] alexander hamilton wrote in the federalist papers, the judicial branch would by definitionthe weakest of the three branches and it would always lose a fight with the executive and legislative branches. i want to promise you that a key part of my campaign is to ensure that we implement what hamilton said, that we rebalance the constitution, that we teach the judges that they are in fact our servants, not our dictators, that they in fact should obey american history and the american constitution. [applause] with your help -- [cheers and applause] i want you to be with me for the next eight years. thank you, good luck and god bless you. [cheers and applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> watch more video of the candidates, see what political reporters are saying and track the latest campaign contributions with c-span's website for campaign 2012. easy to use, it helps you navigate the political landscape, with twitter feeds and facebook updates from the campaigns, candidate bios and the latest

alexander gallimore remember alexander caesar both suffered extensive and are in serious condition in a moscow hospital. now two thousand and eight formula one champion lewis hamilton has dominated practice for sunday's italian grand prix edging defending champion and runaway overall leaders of aston vettel among the track our son was the only driver to clock a lap sign of a one minute and twenty four seconds in the morning session topping the time sheets head of his mccallum team mate jenson button with the red of bethel and mark webber rounding up the top four however vettel steps up again afternoon session to edge hamilton into second but the germans time is still slower than posted nearly a run. if we wait boxing champion vitaly klitschko has put aside retirement or ukrainian w.b.c. belt holder says he will once again show he is the best and his fifteen kilograms heavier than his opponent for this saturday's fight i thought he the other klitschko brother could be nearing his swansong bounce he insists he is in great shape ahead of this one his challenge is for matt light heavyweight champion about nick cole is six years that goes junior and will have the suppor

view to pin down with precision exactly what his religious views were. >> thank you. >> in alexander hamilton you went to an extent with the marquee delafayette's relationship with mr. hamilton. how did washington take the french outlook and help in the war to the extent there was any, and how did, how did he accept foreign support during the revolution -- >> how did he accept foreign support, you know, with difficulty. all these french officers who came over during the revolutionary war, many of them came over for very self-interested reasons, you know, they wanted to earn battlefield glory, and can they felt they would then go back to france and get a promotion. and a lot of them couldn't even speak english. and so washington really felt that it was, you know, the bane of his life as commander in chief that he's had to placate all of these french officers who came over. in fact, the story with lafayette is very interesting because lafayette comes over at the age of 19. he quips a ship with -- equips a ship with provisions and munitions. he goes to philadelphia armed with a letter from benja