Alexander Hamilton on Finance, Credit and Debt

Sylla (Alexander Hamilton: The Illustrated Biography), an NYU professor emeritus of economics, and Cowen (coauthor of Financial Founding Fathers), head of the Museum of American Finance, comprehensively examine Alexander Hamilton’s financial legacy. Architect of the modern U.S. financial system, Hamilton created a securities market, national currency, and central bank, and, the authors write, handled the country’s first market crash masterfully. Each chapter begins with context for Hamilton’s own excerpted writings, which include letters, essays, and reports to Congress, abridged to maintain a focus on finance. Arranged chronologically, the book details Hamilton’s work to move the U.S. from a wartime footing to a climate conducive to business growth. Hamilton’s prose is lively, vivid (a Revolution-era letter terms the “fluctuating constitution of our army... a pregnant source of evil”), and, most importantly, persuasive; faced with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison’s opposition to the central bank, Hamilton convinces George Washington by broadly interpreting the Constitution to mean that every governmental power includes “a right to employ all means requisite and fairly applicable to the attainment of the ends of such power.” This remains a benchmark argument today, the authors point out. This is undoubtedly a treasure trove for financial and public policy geeks, and the book will also help lay readers go beyond the hit musical in understanding Hamilton’s lasting significance.[em] (Mar.) [/em]