“aftermath coincided with two great transformations in the late eighteenth century. In the political sphere, there had been a repudiation of royal rule, fired by a new respect for individual freedom, majority rule, and limited government. If Hamilton made distinguished contributions in this sphere, so did Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. In contrast, when it came to the parallel economic upheavals of the period—the industrial revolution, the expansion of global trade, the growth of banks and stock exchanges—Hamilton was an American prophet without peer. No other founding father straddled both of these revolutions—only Franklin even came close—and therein lay Hamilton’s novelty and greatness. He was the clear-eyed apostle of America’s economic future, setting forth a vision that many found enthralling, others unsettling, but that would ultimately prevail. He stood squarely on the modern side of a historical divide that seemed to separate him from other founders. As chief agent of a market economy, he had to spur acquisitive impulses, accepting self-interest interest as the mainspring of economic action. At the same time, he was never a mindless business booster and knew how the desire for lucre could shade over into noxious greed. In Federalist number 12, when discussing how prosperity abets the circulation of precious metals, he referred to gold and silver as “those darling objects of human avarice and enterprise”—a phrase that sums up neatly his ambivalence about the drive to amass personal wealth. In a nation of self-made people, Hamilton became an emblematic figure because he believed that government ought to promote self-fulfillment, self-improvement, and self-reliance. His own life offered an extraordinary object lesson in social mobility, and his unstinting energy illustrated his devout belief in the salutary power of work to develop people’s minds and bodies. As treasury secretary, he wanted to make room for entrepreneurs, whom he regarded as the motive force of the economy. Like Franklin, he intuited America’s special genius for business: “As to whatever may depend on enterprise, we need not fear to be outdone by any people on earth. It may almost be said that enterprise is our element.”2 Hamilton did not create America’s market economy so much as foster the cultural and legal setting in which it flourished. A capitalist society requires certain preconditions. Among other things, it must establish a rule of law through enforceable contracts; respect private property; create a trustworthy bureaucracy to arbitrate legal disputes; and offer patents and other protections to promote invention. He did this by activating three still amorphous clauses—the necessary-and-proper clause, the general-welfare clause, and the commerce clause—making them the basis for government activism in economics. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton (p. 347). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton (p. 347). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton (p. 347). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton (p. 347). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton (p. 346). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton (p. 346). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. ”
