Alexander Hamilton and the Historians

The year of 1957 was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Hamilton--only he was really born in 1755. As befitted such a year,a goodly number of books were put forth by hopeful publishers. What follows will be, at least in part, an evaluation of some of these books and their subject. But first, we ought to ask: Why more of the same?

Why more books on a man so well known? We only know the past through the eyes of others. And strangely enough, different eyes see different things when looking at the same subject. In Beveridge's Life of John Marshall, the author deals very harshly with Thomas Jefferson.

Ten years later Beveridge wrote that if he were rewriting his great work he would not be quite so positive in his criticism of Jefferson. So even the same eyes see differently at different times!