Alexander Hamilton

The founders of the American republic were ardently concerned with the judgment of posterity. Had they known what a fickle muse Clio would prove to be they might have been more anxious. The making of myths and legends complete with a hagiology and demonology is inherent in the process of evolution toward nationhood. Consequently individual actors in the original drama have often been consigned by History to roles they did not actually play and the most important of them have played shifting roles being heroes in one generation and villains in the next. It is therefore not surprising that Alexander Hamiltonalong with Washington Jefferson Adams and Madisonhas had his ups and downs at the hands of historians.