Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and served as the first Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington.He did not participate in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, however he joined the army and rose through the ranks to become aide-de-camp to General George Washington during the American Revolution. He was a supporter of a strong central government, which led him to butt heads often with Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. In his position, he created the "First Bank of the United States" and the United States Mint. He contributed 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers which supported the US Constitution.
Speech Relevance[edit]
Reagan speaks of the Founders several times and directly mentioned Hamilton by quoting him:
We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion now in slavery behind the Iron Curtain, "Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skin, we are willing to make a deal with your slave masters." Alexander Hamilton said, "A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one." Let's set the record straight. There is no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there is only one guaranteed way you can have peace — and you can have it in the next second — surrender.
Alexander Hamilton wrote this in a letter to the Daily Advertiser and it was published February 21, 1797.
