Alexander Hamilton’s pro-business and big government ideas wouldn’t make him popular today.
No libertarian, he believed the federal government could and should play a central role in economic development.
.. For starters, Hamilton rejected Scottish economist Adam Smith’s then-novel doctrine of laissez-faire. He feared that pure free trade would trap the U.S. into remaining an economic colony supplying cotton, tobacco, food, and raw materials to Britain. He wanted the federal government to have the power to tax and spend, giving it real agency.
.. History shows that Hamilton bested his rival Thomas Jefferson, who wanted the nation to be a loose confederation of yeoman farmers. “The 20th century became an American century precisely because America by 1880 was not a gigantic Australia ..
.. “You can even say that he [Hamilton] is the man who had the biggest influence on the way in which capitalism has developed,” argues Cambridge’s Chang, a native of South Korea.
.. Hamilton had some deeply undemocratic ideas. At the Constitutional Convention he recommended that the president serve for life on condition of good behavior, appoint all the governors, and have veto power over state legislation. He wanted something like an American king.