he was a curator of of exhibition alexander hamilton. he is a contributor to the national review and writees a column for the american observer. now before we begin this terrific program this evening i would ask as always that you please turn off your cell phones and now please, join me in welcoming our guest to the new york historical society. thank you. [ applause ] [ inaudible ] >> we're both really federalists, so that's all that really matters. before we begin, i want to embarrass our guest by adding a little more praise. we had been in a founder's revival for the last ten or 12 or perhaps more years. and like the founding itself, it's been a collective enterprise. many writers involved in making different contributions. but also, like the founding, there's been an indispensable man and i believe that's joe ellis. he was there at the beginning of the founder's revival. he brought the knowledge and the unimpeachable credentials of the academy and he joined them with a lit rate readable style. it's a pureless combination and i'm very

the alleys and are -- the alexander hamilton post, which represents the lgbt-focused veterans agency. "on behalf of the 200 lgbt war veterans, alexander hamilton post in san francisco would like me to speak a few words on behalf of our lgbt elders. our country would not be strong or successful if it were not for them. sexual orientation does not diminish the sacrifices that made for our nation. these citizens carry the burden to ensure that our society, with all its complexities, could succeed courage to those in the 1970's and 1980's, i cannot imagine what you winter in the early years. we owe you a great deal of gratitude. thank you again and got less all of you today." -- god bleesss all of you today" "discrimination can take many forms, including discrimination of omission, refusal of rice to receive visitors, denial of access to hormone therapy, being threatened for expressing gender identity, being segregated, being harassed on the basis of hiv status, refused the right to visit a partner, and refusal of life-planning documents the dead -- of life-planning documents. we have wor

while soaking over that, he learned of some very rude remarks that a man made about by alexander hamilton during that campaign. he sent hamilton a note demanded that he retract remarks or explain them. hamilton wrote a rather mouthed response. things evolve from there and he ended up fighting the famous dual in new jersey. it ended very badly for hamilton. he died. i always love this illustration. i put it in the book. is the illustration all the books about the dual for 100 years. it was in the books i read about as a boy and what i love about it is hamilton is grabbing his head even though he was shot in the torso so it's not terribly accurate. although plainly hamilton lost the duel it's hard to say that burr one of because he really was ruined by the duel. he was indicted for murder in new york state. he was also indicted for murder in new jersey and he had to flee into philadelphia to avoid arrest. so you have a sitting vice president of the united states under indictment for murder in two states and on the lam from the law. this was a remarkable turn of events, and aaron burr unders

alexander hamilton.nder hamilton, and there's a million things he has not done, but just you wait, just you wait -- >> that's him performing. it's awesome. i want you to give us -- you are writing a cycle of hip-hop songs about alexander hamilton. you say in the beginning of that clip when you are speaking at the white house and you are doing it because you think hamilton is somebody that embodies hip-hop? >> and by saying that, he is really the quote unquote american dream story. he is an immigrant, first of all, and he was orphaned by age 10. he is somebody that wrote himself out of his circumstances. he wrote a poem about a hurricane that destroyed st. croix. he became washington's aide to that, and his beef with jefferson are basically the things you debate every morning. that was the beginning of the two-party system. and so it was -- it's somebody who is brilliant and always thought he was the smartest guy in the room. and very self-destructive in a lot of ways. first sex scandal with maria reynold

i think that alexander hamilton had the highest s.a.t.s of anybody at the founders. he's a really brilliant guy. that scared the wits out of jefferson and madison. jefferson writes madison, take him on. no one else can take him on singularly. cut him to pieces. he is a host unto himself. so the brilliance of hamilton's financial program, both the funding of the debt and the assumption of the state debts and the creation of the national bank is a stroke of genius. what needs to be remembered is that up until then the united states is regarded by the financial capitals of the world, especially amsterdam's bank, as a banana republic. we can't pay our debts. we are -- you know, we're totally -- >> we're a failing interest. >> yeah. we're like -- >> forget the principle. >> yeah. yeah. hamilton is single hand deadly creating a new credit system and a new stability. from a purely economic point of view there can be no argument that hamilton's reforms were absolutely correct and brilliant. they were perceived by jefferson and madison as a fundamental threat to the interest

and this was mostly -- domestically, it was alexander hamilton's financial program. er merchants clerk born in the west indies, he thinks he's bringing the united states into a new financial world.cial he thinks he's establishing american prosperity and paying off our debts from thebts. revolutionary war. madison, also jefferson, they're virginia planters. they don't like this new world,v they don't understand a lot of it. they think hamilton is justt enriching his wall street cronies, his new york banker cronies. so they want to slow that down, they want to roll that back. the other big dividing issue is foreign policy. washington is inaugurated for the first time in april of 1789, the bastille falls july of 1789. and so the french revolution begins, and then 25 years of world war follow from that, mostly between britain and france. so we're a little country on the edge of that superpower brawl. who do we support, if anybody? well, the federalists tend to incline more towards britain. britain is our main trading partner. but madison and jefferson, the republicans, th

emerged as the focal point of the opposition in the first congress to secretary of the treasury alexander hamilton's plan for the states, for the federal government to assume the debt of the states. see, hamilton realized this would get every state off to a good footing, it would restore the public credit of the states, it would cement the union and tie the union together. well, the southern states had more or less paid off their bills. the northern states more or less had not. the southern states wanted to know why they should pay twice for their war debts when they had been frugal. the northern states cite if you won't come to our aid, what's the point of being in a union with you at all? people were talking about secession. a bout of influenza hit washington, d.c., nearly killed george washington. it's a very precarious time for the country. thomas jefferson runs into alexander hamilton who was usually very polished, very well dressed, clean shaven looking none of those things in front of his house. jefferson says, what's wrong? i'm going nuts, worried the public sector's going to fail. so thomas

while sulking over that, he learned of some very rude remarks that had been made about him by alexander hamilton during that campaign. he sent hamilton a note demanding that he either retract the remarks or explain them. hamilton wrote a rather mealy-mouthed response. things devolved from there, and they ended up fighting the famous duel in new jersey. it ended very badly for hamilton. he died. i always love this illustration. i put it in the book. it was the illustration in all the books about the duel for 100 years. it was in the books i read as a boy. and what i love about it is hamilton's grabbing his head even though he was shot in the torso. so it's not terribly accurate. um, like so much of history. um, although plainly hamilton the duel, it's hard to say that burr won it because he really was ruined by the duel. um, he was indicted for murder in new york state. he was also indicted for murder in new jersey. and he had to flee to philadelphia to avoid arrest. so you had the sitting vice president of the united states under indictment for murder in two states and on the lam from the law. t

. >> stephen: are you a game theorist, a professor of politics and director of the alexander hamiltone book the dictators handbook. >> i am. >> stephen: first of all, what is in a dictator's handbook. did you write a book for a dictator doesn't every page say great job, boss. don't kill me. >> not so much. what the book's pain point is, is that dictators and democrats aren't really very different from each other. they want to stay in power. they will do what it takes to stay in power. >> stephen: so you admit obama is a dictator. >> he would like to be. >> stephen: do you think obama would like to be a dictator. >> i have no doubt about t of course. it would be much easier to be president if you didn't have to have an election, be popular, get votes it would be much bet ferr you had 20 people decide how to run the country. >> stephen: as a game theorist you have applied game theory to political science. the cia's own study has shown that your predictions are twice as accurate as the cia's predictions as to what will happen geo politically. soviet union's demise you predicted. khmer ro

in fact, you got a one by john on alexander hamilton and conservatives, who when you go back and read their remarks, they wanted a monarchy. they wanted a hereditary cynic. they like the system has existed in england. on the other hand come you had been franklin and thomas jefferson who said, we want one house and congress to be a let it every year, a real peoples house and we want an executive committee. we don't even want a presidency. when you go back and read it sounds much more like what was happening in the french revolution. there were problems with those sites. one come you got a tyranny by monarchy and the others is a tyranny by the masters. and so, james madison is credited with creating the grand compromise, the constitution, where he said neither the left nor the right as they existed in 1789 are going to dominate. we are not going to create a system that favors one or the other. we are going to create a system that in fact is as level a playing field on which the various ideologies can wrestle as we possibly can. certainly when they constructed this, the senate was going

in fact, you've got on one side sort of the john adams, alexander hamilton's, the conservatives who, when you go back and read their remarks, they wanted a monarchy. they wanted a hereditary senate. they liked the system as it existed in england. on the other hand, you have been franklin and thomas jefferson who said we want one house in congress to be elected every year, a real people's house, and want an executive committee. we don't even want the presidency. when you go back and read, much more like what was happening in the french revolution. there was real problems with both sides. one, you've got. one, you've got sort of a tyranny by monarchy, and the other you have a tyranny by the masses, right? so james madison is credited with creating the grand compromise, the constitution, where he said neither left nor the right, as they existed in 1789, are going to dominate. we are not going to create a system that favors one or the other. we are going to create a system that, in fact, is as level a playing field on which the various ideologies can wrestle, as we possibly can. certainl

. >>> an era of mystery has surrounded alexander hamilton. james m. good in his definitive book of the outdoor sculpture of washington, d.c. in dedicating the ten-foot tall figure, president harding made reference to an anonymous donor. who admirers described as the greatest treasurer sculpted by james earl phraser. >> hamilton is perhaps straining to recognize his surroundings. after all, it was his famous deal with congressional supporters of thomas jefferson that led to the assumption of state debts in return for capitol's removal to an entirely new city to the built on the banks of the potomac. the pedestal upon which he stands makes no reference to the real estate transactions and he smoked the rock of the national resources that

he thought alexander hamilton was an presentable. that he was of four andhe w thought thomas jefferson was a coward. and his personal life he made unconventional choice is. he married doublemint 10 years older than he. not the custom at the time. he was a widow -- she was a widow of the british officer. that was controversial. he did pass a way of a tropical fever and he was inouye accountable for thaten but always in his life anf advocate of women's rights think you they rallies but equalof of men if not the superior in educated his daughter the way in a young man would be educated issuesghte often described as the best educated woman in america who could speak latin and could reverse comfortably with everyone.ft he was an avid lazy-- ladies' man. he did not remarry from 37wi through 77 they gave him 40fe years of bachelor good which he took the advantage of. when of his longtime friend said it is remarkable colonel burr achieved as much as he did resolve the time he spent pursuing women. it is very difficult to capture over the cen

when we had our alexander hamilton show, we made much of the new york manumission society. >> which wez a member of. >> these were the local founders in new york state who were part of this, about 30, 32 -- >> actually, new york had more slaves -- had the most slaves of any state north of the potomac. >> that's right. and they had a real problem to deal with. this was not like, you know, vermont which never had any. >> it was easy in vermont because there were two slaves. >> that's right. but it took a long time, not until 1827. but if the united states had gotten rid of slavery by 1827, i mean we would have died and gone to heaven, right? no civil war. >> they passed legislation in new york in 1803 or '04. i think it was a gradual emancipation. so that last slaves would have lived on up until the 30s and 40s, smart. it's a lot easier if the economy is not dependent on slave labor. the total economy is dependent on slave labor. south carolina is 60% african-american. and equally dependent on slave labor. and actually the emerging kingdom in south carolina is huge, huge economic boom. on

alexander hamilton said the idea that markets can run themselves is one of those paradoxical notions that has grown in strength during the revolution. he absolutely had nothing to do with it. but it was important in england. and it moves into early 19th century to become the basis of economic thought. and then economics changes in the end of the 19th century, and you no longer have a labor theory of values. they have a theory that value comes from demand. what we will pay when we are just about satisfied with an object. anyway, so adam smith has not been important in modern economic theory, except as sort of a godfather and as a totem, as a symbol, as a name with resonance. so, i would say he's still important, and i'm sure he's taught in most economics classes. >> the second on the list is thomas payne's "common sense." another brick. >> another brick. well, you know, he was another american immigrant, too. because he thought he was going to stay. he didn't realize they would have all the wonderful revolutions to call him back to europe. payne was important because payne had this --

madison was not a journalist alexander hamilton was a born journalist. d it when he was a teenagen and all of his life. yet, when hamilton decided that the constitution needs a a p-- propaganda campaign in the new ople newspapers, one of the people he turns to is his then friend congressman james madiso and madison steps up to the pla plate and rights 29 of -- 289 of the 809th federalist papers. he did these public performing things which are so essential nd some -- become so essential. >> host: what was jameswh madison's republican party?s >> guest: this was the party to oppose the policies of the pt washington administration thatis he and thomas jefferson did not like. and this was mostly -- domestically it was alexander hamilton's financial program. po hamilton, the former merchant fr clerk born in the west indies thinks he is bringing the unitei states into a new financial world. he is establishing american prosperity and paying off our debts from the revolutionary war. madison and jefferson, they are virginia planters. they don't like this new world.

james madison and alexander hamilton didn't use their real names when writing the federalist papers. it sounds slippery, but i think there is a space for protecting anonymous political speech. >> the bottom line here is that a lot of people wouldn't give a lot of money if they were going to have to disclose because a lot of wealthy people don't want that kind of attention and so the fact there is a way the give a lot of money without disclosure actually encourages contributions to these super pacs, so that's one of the reasons why politicians like that. >> but shouldn't we need to know, dave? that's my point. a wealthy individual or big company gives a lot of money in the hopes that they're going to get something. not saying they're trading for a specific something, but they want influence and shouldn't we have the right the know? >> these groups in some cases are spending seven, eight figures on political advertisements, if not overtly going for or against a particular candidate, getting darn close to that line and really what the internal revenue service says if you're a non-profit

james madison and alexander hamilton didn't use their real names when they were writing the federalist papers. there's a reason for that. there's a space for protecting anonymous political speech. >> the bottom line here is that a lot of people wouldn't give a lot of money if they were going to have to disclose. a lot of wealthy people don't want that kind of attention. so the fact that there is a way to give an awful lot of money without disclosure actually encourages contribution to these super pacs. it's one of the reasons politicians like that. >> but shouldn't we need to know, dave? that's exactly my point, right? a wealthy individual or a big company gives a lot of money in the hopes that, well, they're going to get something. i'm not saying they're trading for a spefrk something but yeah, they want influence. shouldn't we have the right to know? >> these nonprofit groups in some cases are spending seven, even eight figures on political advertisements. advertisements that are if not overtly going for or against a political candidate are getting pretty darn close to that line. and

constitution, the declaration of independence, to the federalist papers, to the writing of alexander hamiltonmas jefferson, so andrew jackson, to abraham lincoln, to franklin delano roosevelt, and we lay out the case that there is no judicial supremacy, it is a modern act of lawyers and law schools and arrogant judges that, in fact, it was supposed to be a balance between the three branches, and that means, by definition, no one of them can be supreme, and therefore, the supreme court is supreme inside the judiciary, but it cannot dictate to the congress and it cannot dictate to the president, and that will be one of the major struggles starting in january. people ask, how fast can we turn around the mess that obama has made? now, i believe, frankly, the recovery will start late on election night. somebody said american people are so smart and so optimistic, it may start in september or october, whenever the polls show that obama is going to lose. but the basic principle is simple -- we don't have a problem with the american people. we have a problem with government. and that problem has been

. >> are they still -- >> thomas jefferson and alexander hamilton hated each other, right? it got so bad between burr and hamilton, one killed the other. not quite that bad. >> is it journalistically valid? or is it just piddle paddle? >> i think it's journalistically valid because i think people have a right to know what's going on inside the white house. i think it's -- i think it's way beyond gossip when you're talking about the white house. but i think is it going to have an impact on the election? it's going to be three or four days, maybe three or four weeks of discussion and ultimately then it'll merge into what we've heard about every other president, what we've heard about every other white house. all the unfair or sometimes fair attacks on first ladies. that -- presidents don't get elected and reelected based on how's their white house functioning in terms of people getting along with each other. >> rudy, always a pleasure. happy anniversary next week -- >> happy anniversary. >> you are officially now my most regular guest in the first year. >> very proud of it. y

james madison and alexander hamilton didn't use their real names when writing the federalist papers. it sounds slippery, but i think there is a space for protecting anonymous political speech. >> the bottom line here is that a lot of people wouldn't give a lot of money if they were going to have to disclose because a lot of wealthy people don't want that kind of attention and so the fact there is a way the give a lot of money without disclosure actually encourages contributions to these super pacs, so that's one of the reasons why politicians like that. >> but shouldn't we need to know, dave? that's my point. a wealthy individual or big company gives a lot of money in the hopes that they're going to get something. not saying they're trading for a specific something, but they want influence and shouldn't we have the right the know? >> these groups in some cases are spending seven, eight figures on political advertisements, if not overtly going for or against a particular candidate, getting darn close to that line and really what the internal revenue service says if you're a non-profit

alexander hamilton considered national debt to be a good thing and encourage the federal government to take on the revolutionary war debt of the states. hamilton did this with great calculation because the -- he understood creditors make three interest in the success of whatever individuals or enterprises owe them money. of the wealthy people of the united states were owed money by the federal government then it is in their interest to ensure the success of the federal government. so they would believe it would be a natural blessing to ensure the success of the government in the early 20th century the u.s. and covering gauged in dollar diplomacy. in the essence of dollar diplomacy to encourage especially regimes in latin america to transfer the debt that they owed to the european banks and bankers to american banks and bankers. this would eliminate the temptation of the european government to secure the debt and send in the gunboats in make sure the interest of the latin american countries now look to new york rather than europe. that has been something that has been used for political

alexander hamilton considered the national debt a good thing. he encourage the federal government to take on the revolutionary war-and hamilton did this with great calculation because he understood creditors have a great interest in the success of what individuals or enterprises of the money and if the wealthy people of the united states, bondholders, if they vote -- if they were owed money by the federal government then it would be in their interest to ensure the success of the federal government. so hamilton believed the federal debt would be a natural blessing. it would insure the success of the new federal government. in the early 20th century the u.s. government engaged in dollar diplomacy. the essence of the dollar diplomacy was to encourage especially regimes in latin america to transfer of the debt that they owed european banks and bankers to american banks and bankers. this would eliminate the temptation of the european government to secure the debt owed to their bankers to send in gunboats and make sure the interests of these latin ame

alexander hamilton, considered national debt to be good thing. he encouraged the federal -- hamilton did this with great calculation because he understood that creditors take great interest in the success of whatever individuals or enterprises or the money. and if the wealthy people of the united states, these were the bondholders, if they became interested, if they were owed money by the federal government, then it would be in their interest to ensure the success of the federal government. so hamilton was one who believed that a federal debt would be a national blessing. it would ensure the success of the new federal government. in early 20 century, the u.s. government engage in what is called dollar diplomacy. the essence of dollar diplomacy was to encourage especially regimes in latin america, to transfer the debt that they owed to european banks and bankers to american banks and bankers. this would eliminate the temptation of the european government to secure the debts owed to their bankers, and it would make sure that the interests of these

biographies because i wanted to know what was it in a person's life that had led them to become alexander hamilton? so i liked finding out the clue in their childhood or adolescence. beyond that though, the reason i really like to write about writers is i like to figure out what they are doing, their craft, decisions that they make, and biography as a genre gives me an opportunity that i think life. i learned a lot about my own, by extending some compassion for people's mistakes or trying to understand why they took the wrong turn or why they love this person and not that person. it makes me think about what my life has been like and how none of us come into this world with a blueprint knowing how to live a perfect existence that we are making it up as we go, and he was very much right in saying that life is made up of a series of accidents and we are all involved in this random exercise of trying to get along in life. other questions? >> did his brother to place blame on him or make him feel like it was partially his fault? >> he never expressed any kind of connection between his brother and his

the vote in new york was going to be so close that alexander hamilton kept writing madison saying all is lost if you don't pass this constitution in virginia. no pressure. [laughter] but everything is lost. and, in fact, new york only ratifies the constitution a month after virginia and only then by three votes. and only because the federalists agree to this unanimous declaration that they're going to call for a new constitutional convention unless and until there's a bill of rights that comes out of the first congress. so what the anti-federalists do is let's set this aside. that measure fail bed by 88- failed by 88-80 votes. james madison didn't even know if he was going to participate in the ratification convention. indeed, if anti-federalists had simply scheduled it earlier, madison probably wouldn't have been able to make it. in fact, he gives his first speech in a long career in public service, gives his first speech in support of his candidacy to be a part of this ratification convention, and aren't we glad that he decided to participate? because the constitution gets out of th

new england threatened in the 1990's over the alexander hamilton banking plan. people out west including henry clay who say to congress -- look f you don't ratify the treaty of the louisiana purchase, we're going succeed from the union, buy from france and set up our own country. in the war in 1814, the new england states get a little conference of hartford, connecticut and flirt with the idea of suss session. so there's all of these forces going on. and i guess after jackson's victory, the glue that comes to hold the country together, i stouth you that without this war and without that glue, then the american union may not survive until the civil war and it may not have come back together as strongly after. other questions? >> you mentioned spain is an ally of britain. that was after they were flown in. there were standing ships involved in opposing -- >> >> yes, things change. and in 1813, duke of wellington engage in the forces on the aye beer i don't know peninsula trying to push them back across the peer niece. and in fact robert frost who leads the invasio

and as alexander hamilton said, for our country to be on good terms, it is important that we honor our past debts, or as he said it, "the credit of a nation should be well established." i strongly urge our colleagues to vote "no" against this motion to proceed to disapprove because the result would be chaos. if that were to pass, it would be -- it would be chaos. we'd plunge ourselves back into a recession, probably through that into a depression. interest rates would skyrocket. inflation would skyrocket. and we're trying to lower unemployment rates, mr. president, not increase unemployment rates. we want people to have jobs, not people not to have jobs. if the united states were not to honor its bills, the united states would not honor the debt that it has heretofore incurred, it would cause chaos, it would show we're not a credit-worthy country, and for that reason i think it's -- it's a no-brainer, mr. president, that this -- this bill should be disapproved and, frankly, should be unanimously disapproved because i think every member of the united states senate wants to honor the cre

what alexander hamilton saw, mr. speaker, is that the only vacancy that can be filled are those vacancies that occur during a recess of the senate, not vacancies that are getting filled in, but vacancies that actually occurred then. this is important language. it's important language because i live 645 miles away from the united states kohl. i travel with my friends at delta and get me here in an hour and a half. but if i take my horse and ride, and i hope we can get back to having more recess. why in the world we have lot this full-time job, i do not know. germ assembly in georgia meets 40 days back home. -- general assembly in georgia meets 40 days back home. >> it has been stolen from the states and return that power to those communities. but it was a real issue in the early days of our republic that there was a recess and wanted to give the president the power to continue the republic, even when you couldn't get a hold of the united states senate for confirmation. well, in the age of ipads and blackberrys and fax