How Hamilton Tricked Elites Into Supporting Democracy

Live-streamed on June 3, 2024

William Hogeland, proprietor of the “Hogeland’s Bad History” newsletter on SubStack, discusses his recent book The Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding.

William Hogeland joins, first reflecting on the introduction of Alexander Hamilton into popular culture with the recent musical phenomena, and how that provides the opportunity to present a more three-dimensional view of Hamilton’s political philosophy and impact. Now, Hogeland steps back to the inception of the US, and the central role Hamilton played in establishing a financial system that centered on the use of national debt to leverage the economic ambitions of the capitalist class in favor of a nationalist project by allowing them massive ownership stakes, while additionally reinforcing the elitist and anti-democratic makeup of the political class that Hamilton desired. After expanding on Hamilton’s relationship to the US Constitution, including unpacking the relatively subdued role that the Federalist Papers played in the actual ratification, Hogeland walks Sam and Emma through the backlashed faced by the US Federal government due to Hamilton’s wildly anti-democratic financial scheme, looking to both Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 and the Whiskey Rebellion in 1791 as clear cut examples of a coherent dissent and attack on Hamilton’s system of debt and regressive taxation, demanding follow through on the demand of “no taxation without representation” that Americans had fought for, also briefly touching on the greater makeup of this pro-democracy labor movement led by folks with Herman Husband and Thomas Payne. Next, Hogeland looks back to the enemies Hamilton had inside of the US political structures, from State Sovereigntists during the framing of the Constitution, to the Jeffersonian attempts to undermine and overturn his financial system throughout the start of the 19th Century, before wrapping up with the redemption of Hamilton’s legacy over the last few decades, and the particular role his thought played in the US’ response to the 2008 Financial crisis.

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