Alexander Hamilton
and the Beginnings of American Oligarchy

A SEMINAR

Join us at AAI this Spring for a seminar on the writings of Alexander Hamilton.

Beginning February 9, we will meet for 7 weeks every Monday from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM at the Abigail Adams Institute at 14 Arrow St, Ste G10 in Cambridge.

There is no cost to the program, and each week's readings will be provided to all participants.

Dinner will be provided.

Open to Undergraduates and graduate students At Harvard and boston-area universities.

Registration required — register below.

Closet Monarchist. Modern Nationalist. Immigrant Patriot. Fiscal Wizard. Master Government Technician.

Our primary interest with this seminar is to explore the role of Alexander Hamilton (1755 – 1804) in the American Founding. Controversial from the beginning, Hamilton continues to loom large in the American national imaginary. Unabashed elitist from a humble outsider background, Hamilton pursued grand goals for himself and for the nascent Union he helped create. In this seminar we will try to understand Hamilton’s audacious vision of a modern political economy through a close reading of his three famous state papers. We also explore his legacy and give voice to his most perspective critics from the Founding through the present day. Key concepts and topics include public debt, banking, manufacturing, tariffs, national greatness, democracy, oligarchy, and American class politics.

Readings will be made available to the participating students at the Abigail Adams Institute, located near Adams House, at 14 Arrow Street. Reach out with any questions to director@aaicambridge.org.

Register

I. Introducing Hamilton

II. The Federalist (1787-88)

  • Nos. 1, 11, 15, 30, 49*, 51*, 68, 72, 78, 84

  • Main themes: self-rule, unity, economy, constitutional veneration, design of government, the President, and the “least dangerous branch.”

III. Report on Public Credit (1790)

  • Debt, what is it, its uses and abuses. The meaning of liberty and independence in American thought. The Hamilton scheme.

IV. Report on a National Bank (1790)

  • How banking produces growth. The downsides of the European banking system Hamilton espoused. Distributional and control questions.

V. Report on Manufactures (1791)

  • Why manufacturing is special. Free trade utopia. National self-sufficiency. Role of war. Eclipse of agrarian republicanism.

VI. Legacy and Contemporary Controversies

  • Contending views of political economy. Paths not pursued. Reforms for a new age. New models of growth, prosperity, and greatness.

Discussion will be led by Dr. Danilo Petranovich. Dr. Petranovich is the Director of the Abigail Adams Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Previously, Dr. Petranovich taught political science at Duke University and Yale University.

His scholarly expertise is in nineteenth century European and American political thought, but his intellectual interests and loves are far more extensive. Dr. Petranovich received his B.A. in Social Studies from Harvard in 2000 and Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in 2007.