Hamilton: Building America | Full Episode | History

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Gaaaaaah, stupid geo restrictions!

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/Groot746 📅︎︎ Jun 30 2020 🗫︎ replies

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male narrator: He's an overnight sensation... - "Hamilton." - "Hamilton." - The mega-hit musical, "Hamilton." narrator: 240 years in the making. - It's become a cultural phenomenon. - The show is smashing records. - This is an immigrant who wrote his way to the top of American society. He helped create the country, and then wrote himself out of it. narrator: It's the story of one man's ambition to turn a collection of new states into one nation... - Alexander Hamilton was trying to create something with a centralized government, with a powerful economy. Things that now we take for granted. narrator: A riveting tale of power, politics, and fatal pride. - Without Hamilton, there wouldn't be a United States like this, and there wouldn't be a world like this. [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ narrator: Alexander Hamilton's story begins on the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis, where he's born on January 11th, 1755 to a poor, unmarried couple. - His father abandoned the family--just took off. His mother was a storekeeper, and then she dies when he's 13. - He was an illegitimate child, and it's very difficult for us in the 21st century to realize quite what a stigma it was. narrator: Left on his own, young Hamilton mostly educates himself. - You sit here. narrator: At 14, he finds a job as an apprentice in a shipping company on the island of St. Croix. - That was his first exposure to international economics, because he was dealing with every currency there was, many languages, many parts of the globe. - That will be 30 shillings. narrator: His sharp mind soon impresses some local dignitaries. [thunder rumbles] In 1772, a brutal hurricane decimates St. Croix. [thunder rumbles] 17-year-old Hamilton describes the chaotic scene in a letter published by a local newspaper. - It caught the attention of a--of a minister. They said, "This is extraordinary; who is this boy?" - And then this gives local people the idea, "This is really a smart kid. "We should send him to North America to get him an education." narrator: It's an important lesson for Hamilton on the power of his own pen to move people and create opportunity. In 1773, the 18-year-old orphan arrives in his new city, New York. - As soon as he hit the docks, he loved it. All of the clatter of all of these different languages, all of the energy, all of the hubbub, all of this extraordinary newness of New York just caught him and excited him. narrator: Hamilton throws himself into his studies at King's College, now known as Columbia University. But along with the energy of New York, the young man quickly finds himself swept up in the spirit of rebellion. December 16, 1773, angry colonists board commercial ships in Boston Harbor and hurl tea overboard in protest against the tyranny and taxation of British rule. As news of the Boston Tea Party spreads, Hamilton is moved to publish pamphlets that promote the Revolutionary cause. - He gets caught up in it. He adopts this American cause as his own. And, being Hamilton, that means he starts writing about it. - No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave. - He's churning out amazing amounts of prose at an incredible rate. But also he's a writer who isn't afraid to take a stand and sort of smack a little bit at his opponents. narrator: For the next two years, Hamilton continues to produce revolutionary prose, but he dreams of glory on the battlefield as well. By the time the war reaches New York in 1776, George Washington's continental army has already spent a year struggling against the formidable British forces. The 21-year-old Hamilton eagerly joins the fight. Though he has no formal military experience, Hamilton proves a fast study. [cannons boom] He rises to the rank of captain and takes command of an artillery company. - He gains a reputation for being somebody who has a well-disciplined cadre of troops underneath him. - Hamilton is a bright young officer. He's competent. He's efficient. He fights in several battles that Washington is commanding. - At ease. - Morning. narrator: Hamilton's prowess on the battlefield quickly gets him noticed by the commander in chief, and so does his writing. - Washington has to do a huge amount of paperwork as commander in chief. He needs a staff to help him process all the work that flows across his desk. He needs smart young men who know how to talk and write, and that describes Hamilton. - Over time, Hamilton develops this great capacity to sort of understand where Washington's thinking is, putting Washington's thoughts into clear, concise prose. narrator: The upside for Hamilton is immeasurable. Washington becomes a patron and even a father figure for the young orphan. - One factor in their relationship is that Washington has no children, and Hamilton has no parents. So you're talking about a sonless father and a fatherless son. - Hamilton understood from the beginning, that this was a priceless gift in his career to have the most famous man in the country as his sponsor and patron. narrator: Washington swiftly makes Hamilton his chief aide... - Yes, general. narrator: A role that will be critical, as the troops face their darkest moments of the war. [dramatic music] After a series of crushing defeats at the hands of the British, the Continental army is forced to retreat to the frigid forests of Valley Forge with few prospects and fewer supplies. With troops starving and near frozen, Washington and Hamilton petition the Colonies' governing body, the Continental Congress, for assistance. - A good part of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton's life, both at Valley Forge and throughout the war, was simply begging for the essentials to keep that army alive. - Today, we had in camp not less than 2,898 men unfit for duty by reason of their barefoot and otherwise naked-- - As Hamilton is writing all these letters for Washington asking the Congress for money, manpower, shoes, blankets, he was powerfully impressed by how weak the central government was. - The Continental Congress was a perpetual disaster for the whole war, as far as the soldiers were concerned. They hardly ever did anything right. narrator: The weak and ineffective Continental Congress leaves a lasting impression on Hamilton. - He's already brewing up ideas for how the government can be changed and strengthened and how its finances can be handled. - He was reading about monetary policy during the Revolutionary War, in the event that he'd be called to serve as Treasur-- like, he was thinking ten steps ahead. narrator: With his weary and ill-supplied troops, Washington knows he can't match the British forces, so he retrains his men to fight as a guerilla army, attacking in surprise skirmishes rather than on the open battlefield. The tide really turns in 1778, when France declares war on Great Britain and sends the colonists key supplies and troops. Over the next three years, the continental army gains the upper hand against the British. 1781, General Washington has a chance to end the war if he can defeat the British troops in Yorktown before their reinforcements arrive. Washington gives Hamilton the critical assignment of attacking a last remaining cannon fortification. - Hamilton and his men rose up out of the trench. It was at night, and there were shells exploding in the air above them. They sprinted across this rutted no man's land. [dramatic music] And then, with fixed bayonets, took the position in less than ten minutes, and with a minimum of casualties on the American side. So Hamilton finally had his moment of battlefield glory that he had dreamed about. narrator: Washington has his artillerymen shell the remaining British forces until they finally surrender. The battle of Yorktown becomes the final victory for America in its fight for independence. - For Alexander Hamilton, it was one of the critical moments of his life, and he did show great courage. He could have easily been killed or wounded. narrator: But the battle to shape a new nation has just begun, and Alexander Hamilton will be in the center of it all. narrator: Since the birth of the United States of America, our nation has clashed over the idea of state versus federal power. It's a battle that was at the center of Alexander Hamilton's political career, one that has raged on for generations. - There are a lot of people who believe that the states ought to have, not just more authority, but more control over what they do. But it is a federal system. People are highly mobile now, so they should be able to move from one state to another and know that they won't be denied federal rights. - We continue to have, in this country, a debate about how much the federal government should do, and Alexander Hamilton was the leader of that debate. narrator: 1781, the debate is just getting started. [gunfire] The Americans have managed to defeat the most powerful empire in the world in their bloody fight for independence. Now the former rebels turn their attention to the task of building a new nation. One of the early voices calling for a strong, unified national government is Alexander Hamilton, who had served as General George Washington's chief aide. When the Revolution ends, Hamilton turns his focus from war and politics to prosperity, as the ambitious 26-year-old returns home to his adopted city of New York into the arms of society socialite Elizabeth Schuyler. - She was beautiful. She was rich. She was sparkling. She was cultivated. And he was absolutely smitten. narrator: They were introduced at a party hosted by General Washington early in 1780, having met briefly once before. Hamilton fell in love with her and with her influential connections. - In the day, no one would have to ask who the Schuylers were. They were elite. They were powerful. If you could get yourself into the Schuyler family, you were made. - Alexander Hamilton would've never achieved what he achieved without marrying Eliza Schuyler. She was an educated, interesting, and interested woman who supported him in all of his endeavors. narrator: Just a year after the wedding, their first son, Philip, is born. Hamilton, an illegitimate orphan, now has the family, pedigree, and bona fide reputation that will open doors. Hamilton begins studying law and passes the bar six months later. Many of his early cases are representing loyalists being sued over disputed property claims. Hamilton becomes well known as a brilliant if combative and controversial attorney. - He was one of the most eminent lawyers in New York, very well known for the cases that he had taken, and the way that he had argued them. narrator: While practicing in New York, Hamilton crosses swords with another young and equally ambitious lawyer named Aaron Burr. - Hamilton and Burr see a lot of each other. New York is not a very big place. They're both lawyers. Sometimes they argue cases against each other in court. - They were just a year apart in age. They were both brilliantly educated. They were extraordinarily articulate. Their characters and temperaments had been forged in the American Revolution. And that's where the similarities end. narrator: Whereas Hamilton has relied on his ambition and tenacity to cut a path from illegitimate orphan to the New World's elite, Burr was born into wealth and society. It's a distinction that seems to cause an instant and bitter rift between the men. - The two of them came from opposite ends of society. Hamilton saw Burr as somebody who didn't work for it. He just had it. And that just spurred enormous, deep-seated, unacknowledged resentment. Burr, on the other hand, saw Hamilton as this upstart, this motor mouth, this man of unbridled ambition who would just go right to the top and take it. Which is to say, potentially to dislodge him. narrator: Hamilton's ambition is focused on creating the kind of strong centralized government that will cement the new union. During the war, Hamilton had watched the troops at Valley Forge freeze and starve because the Continental Congress could not convince the states to provide more resources. Now, years later, very little has changed. - The states had too much power. The federal government couldn't tax them. They could ask for money, but if the states didn't want to give the money, they didn't have to. narrator: Perhaps it's Hamilton's immigrant status that affords him his big picture perspective. - He wasn't from one of the states. He was from outside of what becomes the United States. So he is a lot freer to imagine a government that was, in his mind, efficient, that worked well, that had power, that maybe could be, someday, a power on the world stage. - Unlike the other colonists who thought of their colony as their country, Hamilton came, and he had no allegiance to a particular state. And so I think that it was very important that he was an immigrant, because it enabled him to develop a Continental perspective, and he became the leading spokesman for American nationalism. narrator: But outside of New York, young Hamilton has neither the notoriety nor the clout to push his federalist agenda. And so he teams up with a member of the Continental Congress who shares his views, the well known Virginia politician James Madison. - They saw eye to eye on the troubles that the United States was facing. They both saw that the government needed a power to tax, and that it needed more oomph behind it. narrator: Together, Hamilton and Madison push to assemble a meeting with leaders from each state with the hopes of creating a new, much more powerful centralized government. The Constitutional Convention convenes in Philadelphia in May, 1787. - The Revolution called on people, of course, to be people of courage and bravery, but it also called on them to be people of creativity. There was a whole country to figure out. - There weren't any models. We forget that, that there was no democratic republic of the sort that America was trying to be in all of history. narrator: In order to insure the success of the convention, Hamilton recruits his most powerful champion, General George Washington. - Hamilton understands that Washington is the indispensible man. Washington is the only name that's going to be recognized by the people from Georgia to New Hampshire. There are some letters in which Hamilton is pleading for the General to participate, "We need you there, otherwise the fruits of our victory are going to simply dissolve." - Washington saw that if we didn't preserve the union, we'd wind up like Europe, split into three or four different chunks of countries and fighting wars with each other. So this was crucial. narrator: As the Constitution is drafted, Hamilton is resolute in creating a unified federal government. - Let the 13 states concur in erecting one great American system. narrator: But since they just fought a war to shed a strong, oppressive central government, convincing the 13 colonies to ratify the document will prove no easy task. - Because Hamilton was so aggressive in pushing for national power, he, again and again and again, forced people to think about the issue. And a lot of people were concerned about states' rights, because a national government of this sort was a really new thing at the time. narrator: When the Constitution is completed, Hamilton decides to write a series of newspaper essays making the case for ratification, and he enlists James Madison and another believer, John Jay, to join him in the effort. - To the people of the state of New York, you are called on to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. - Hamilton decides that the new constitution needs a propaganda campaign to help it pass. So Hamilton is doing what he often does, he's fighting a battle, and he's fighting it in the newspapers. - He's a man of words, and that's really what the political realm was about. Words were at the center of the American Revolution in a sense, and words were part of the construction process of the American nation, and certainly that was Hamilton's favored weapon of choice. narrator: The collection will become known as the Federalist Papers, regarded as the most influential essays ever written about the Constitution. - But Hamilton wrote 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers, and it was an extraordinary accomplishment, because he had a full-time legal practice. So he was writing the Federalist Papers as a sideline. - He's working well into the night to craft these essays and to try to persuade the American public that they have nothing to fear from this new government that's being proposed. - And the stakes could not have been higher, because it was, "Are the states going to agree to be a part of this thing we call America?" And it was very far from certain. narrator: Hamilton's Federalist essays help to convince many skeptical politicians to support the Constitution. The document is ratified in 1788. [fireworks popping] - Alexander Hamilton was clearly a rising young man in the new country, but not nearly as famous and influential as he was about to become. narrator: In the years that follow, George Washington tasks Hamilton with making their Federalist dream a reality. - Somebody asked me if this budget was dead on arrival. I said, "No, no. It's not dead on arrival. It's debt on arrival." narrator: In modern day Washington D.C., no issue is as divisive as how we handle our national debt, today more than $19 trillion and counting. - You cannot keep borrowing and borrowing and borrowing, and nothing happens. Something's got to give. But the truth is, is without borrowing it would have been almost impossible to finance the kind of growth that America has been able to do. Debt allows the world to go around. narrator: Two and a half centuries ago, Alexander Hamilton looked to use a large national debt as a tool in his quest to unify the new nation. 1789, the Constitution is ratified by the former colonies. General George Washington is elected unanimously as the first President of the United States. Now, Washington faces a series of decisions that are critical to the nation's future. He must choose his cabinet members, the small cadre of men who will help him forge a new country. Alexander Hamilton, now 34 years old, served as Washington's close aide, both in the heat of battle and negotiating with the Continental Congress. But it's Hamilton's keen command of economics that convinces Washington to choose him as the fledgling nation's first Secretary of the Treasury. - Washington was the indispensible man, and Washington and Hamilton were the indispensible alliance. narrator: As a 14-year-old apprentice in a shipping company, Hamilton had studied commerce. As a student of economic theory, he'd cemented his reputation for forward thinking. Hamilton had also written the charter for the Bank of New York, which provided new capital for the growing city. - After the Revolution, he does the legal work for one of the first banks in the United States, the Bank of New York, which still exists. So Hamilton did have a lot of experience with the world of money and trade. narrator: The idea of encouraging private enterprise is a part of Hamilton's vision for the nation. - Finance and credit, to him, wasn't just one little aspect of domestic policy. I think to Hamilton, finance was pretty much what the national government was going to be. narrator: But during the Revolutionary War, the de facto government had doled out $54 million to pay for soldiers, food, and supplies. And the states had their own crippling war debts totaling another 25 million. - The main problem Hamilton has to face is how to get a handle on America's debts, which are huge. narrator: Hamilton sees opportunity, arguing that the new federal government should assume the states' debts in order to unite the nation as one. - A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing. It will be a powerful cement of our union. - If people are looking to the national government to be repaid instead of to state governments, that's a way of strengthening the national government, of getting people to buy into the fact that there is a national government. - The negative of a debt became a positive, because it established the United States as the backer and bearer of that debt, and in so doing, made the United States united. narrator: But for Hamilton, convincing Congress to assume the states' debts is a tough battle. - Some of Hamilton's critics came from states that had already paid their debts, and their view was, "Why should we pay extra to help states "like Massachusetts and South Carolina, which are still in the hole?" And Hamilton's attitude was that these expenses had been made in a common cause. The Revolution was for the whole country, and therefore the whole country should bear the burden of paying off the debt. narrator: Leading the charge of opposition against Hamilton is a familiar face, Congressman James Madison, whose home state of Virginia has paid off most of its debt. Once allies who had lobbied for a centralized government and penned the Federalist Papers together, they are now at odds. - It astonished Hamilton when he became treasury secretary, and at that point James Madison was a congressman from Virginia, that they begin to clash, and they clash very, very bitterly. - States, like individuals, that pay off their debt are respected and trusted. narrator: Madison is not the only obstacle to Hamilton's vision. His old rival, lawyer Aaron Burr, has just beaten Hamilton's father-in-law to be elected as a senator from New York. When he gets to the Senate, Burr joins Madison's opposition to Hamilton's agenda. - It's clear that Hamilton, on some fundamental level, distrusted Burr. He really felt that it was his job to keep Burr away from power. narrator: Joining Burr and Madison is Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence. He has recently returned from Paris to accept Washington's appointment as Secretary of State. - Jefferson and Madison had known each other quite well as fellow Virginians prior to Jefferson's departure to France. - When Jefferson comes back, I won't say Madison falls under his spell, but they draw closer together again. narrator: The Virginians have their own controversial agenda. They want to move the nation's capital to Virginia, which would be a financial boon for the state. However, leaders of the northern states want to keep the capital in New York or move it to Philadelphia. Jefferson, now the nation's chief statesman and negotiator, sees a way to satisfy both Hamilton and Madison. - Jefferson said, "Why don't you come to dinner, and I'll get my friend Madison, and we'll talk about it." So they have this dinner, and Jefferson says, "Maybe you can make a deal here." - And the deal is that Madison will allow Hamilton's plan to go through Congress, and in return, Hamilton will push for the capital of the United States to be moved to a site on the Potomac, which is now Washington, D.C.. - Of course, there was a great outcry from the people in New York who wanted New York City to be the capital. [people shouting indistinctly] narrator: But Hamilton's own pragmatism overshadows any sentiment around a New York capital. His national debt plan gets approved by Congress in 1790, providing the economic leverage to build the strong national government he envisions. - He saw that the key to the political union of the United States was an economic one, fundamentally, and that was his unique perception. - It was probably the single most important thing that Alexander Hamilton did in his life. narrator: But as Alexander Hamilton establishes himself as a powerful political figure, his list of enemies only grows. narrator: Within view of Federal Hall, where George Washington was sworn in as our nation's first President, is the New York Stock Exchange, the center of the world economy, which sees almost $70 billion in shares exchange hands each day. On this historic floor, traders also buy and sell more than 10,000 bonds, part of a $40-trillion American bond market that can be traced back to one man known as the patron saint of Wall Street. 1790, only a decade since its hard-won war for independence, the United States is trying to turn that victory into a lasting, prosperous democracy. As Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton has convinced Congress that the federal government should assume tens of millions of dollars in debt from the Revolutionary War. Now he presents his plan to pay off this national debt. - He was trying to get an underpinning of a financial system in place so that we would have resources; a financial system that would help not only fund the federal government, but give us leverage in the international arenas. - He was saying, "Look, we can become a modern, first-rate financial power in this world, as well," and, of course, that was incredibly prescient on his part. narrator: The linchpin in Hamilton's plan is the sale of government bonds, offering buyers a guaranteed return on their money with interest. - What Hamilton created is the ability to buy a bond and not get paid for 10, 20, 30 years. So in other words, you're lending the country money. narrator: Another hallmark of Hamilton's plan is the opportunity for businessmen, or stockbrokers, as they come to be known, to buy and resell these bonds on the open market. It all starts at the Tontine Coffee Shop on Wall Street, the first home of the New York Stock and Exchange Board. - When he created the government bond market, he also made provision for the trading of bonds, so you could have a secondary market, and that took place on Wall Street. And so that was the first trading arena in the United States. narrator: With this new bond market flourishing, Hamilton pushes the next item on his agenda, the creation of a federal bank. Modeled after the Bank of England, 20% of the bank would be owned by the government. The rest would be owned by private investors buying shares, providing yet another source of cash to boost the national economy. - He felt that what was important to get the government off to a good start was to get elite people, literally and figuratively, invested in it. narrator: But the idea of a strong federal bank is opposed by Hamilton's Jeffersonian detractors, who still harbor resentments towards their old British bankers. - Politicians like Thomas Jefferson, their main relationship with banks throughout their lives were English bankers who lent them money, and when they couldn't pay them back, they would demand land and property from them in return. - They knew that if there was centralized finance with a central bank, that that would lead to centralized power. And I think that was really their main concern, and they were right about that. narrator: After a heated debate in Congress that lasts two months, Hamilton's bank bill passes. Thomas Jefferson makes a back door plea to Washington to veto the bill, but the President, Hamilton's longtime mentor, shuts it down. - Hamilton had a vision of the future which dovetailed very nicely with George Washington's. Washington was very sympathetic to Hamilton's idea that we should become a great commercial nation and be the equal of England. narrator: On February 25, 1791, Washington approves the first Bank of the United States, the precursor to the Federal Reserve, laying the cornerstone for a federal financial system that endures to this day. - During Hamilton's tenure as Treasury Secretary there were only five securities traded on Wall Street. There were three issues of treasury securities created by Alexander Hamilton. And then there was the stock of the Bank of New York, created by Alexander Hamilton. And there was the stock of the Bank of the United States, created by Alexander Hamilton. So when we say that Hamilton was the patron saint of Wall Street, we mean that quite literally. narrator: With the Federal Bank in place, Hamilton now turns his attention to currency. At the time, each state has its own monetary system, like 13 separate countries, resulting in constantly fluctuating and inconsistent exchange rates, crippling commerce as many merchants simply refuse currencies from distant states. - Some states were still using shillings. Spanish money circulated. So there was a lot of chaos out there. - It made doing business really quite hard and also added an element of instability to the economy. narrator: To solve the problem, Hamilton proposes the creation of a national mint to issue a unified central currency. His plans even include design details. A bald eagle and the word "liberty" will appear on every gold, silver, and copper coin. - He felt that by having a national currency it would facilitate trade amongst the states, which was true. And it'd also facilitate trade abroad, which was also true. I think he also had a more abstract notion in mind, which was that if you had a national currency, that would help promote the idea of national identity. narrator: On April 2, 1792, Congress passes the Coinage Act, creating a new U.S. dollar and a mint to produce it. Just three years into his term as Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton has won a series of personal and political victories that not only fuel the economy and help lower the national debt, but also secure his vision of a sovereign federal government. But as young America finds its way, friction between Hamilton and his rivals threatens to fracture the union. - The Gore Campaign confirmed it will officially contest the election beginning in Florida courts tomorrow. all: We want Bush! - When the tally is completed, and as it appears Governor Bush will have the lead, I think that's that. I think enough is enough. narrator: In modern American politics, the bipartisan fight to obtain and hold power is often bitter and contentious. - He's a president who's done a horrible job. Everybody understands that. Hillary Clinton, she's worse than Obama. - An unqualified, loose cannon is within reach of the most powerful job in the world. narrator: But along with the framework for our modern government, our long history of political infighting is inherited from our founding fathers. - Americans like to think nowadays, that things have never been more malicious and partisan in Washington than they are today. Whereas that malice and partisanship went back to the very first days of George Washington's first term. [dramatic music] narrator: Some would trace the first contentious splits in our young nation's government to Alexander Hamilton. By 1792, Hamilton may be the second most powerful man in the nation, behind only President George Washington. - When you talk about the first administration of the United States and the policy that was implemented, it was pretty much all masterminded by Alexander Hamilton. narrator: As Secretary of the Treasury, he strengthened the central government, creating a robust economy that soon will rival or surpass America's European benefactors, a system including government bonds, a central bank, and a national currency. - More than 90% of the government was in his Treasury Department. That's why he was really something more akin to a prime minister, rather than a mere treasury secretary. It was also why he was so powerful and also so controversial. narrator: Leading the opposition against Hamilton and his centralized economic system are a now familiar political duo, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and his fellow Virginian James Madison. - Virginia was the biggest state, by far. They saw themselves as the ruling class, these rich Virginia planters. And suddenly here's Hamilton, passing these bills and creating this Bank of the United States. - People like Madison and Jefferson were more southern oriented, and they wanted more power in the local regions than Hamilton, who had the big, national point of view. - The Constitution allows for exactly those means. - Hamilton was constantly, desperately trying to prove himself, in a sense. And I think Jefferson found Hamilton sort of scrambling to the top to be a little bit unbecoming. - Jefferson is obviously a brilliant writer, but he's one of these people who just doesn't come across that well in person. Hamilton is so glib; he can go on for hours, marshaling these facts and being incredibly persuasive. - I've heard enough! - So there were just so many levels of differences between the two men, and I really think they grew to hate each other. narrator: It's not just Southerners that are against Hamilton. His New York rival, Senator Aaron Burr, is also in opposition, adding fuel to their growing animosity. - The launching of the national government put them both on that national stage and ultimately pitted them against each other in a very public, high stakes venue. And I think Hamilton saw Burr as being this dire threat to the safety and the survival of the Republic. narrator: With Burr aligned with Jefferson and Madison, the nation divides into two parties. Hamilton's followers, who support a strong central government and a strong executive, are called the Federalists. The Jeffersonians favor more power in the states and in Congress, and are known as Republicans. - The other party is really the anti-Hamilton party. It's often called the Jeffersonians, the anti-Federalists, but it's really in opposition to Hamilton. narrator: To fight the powerful Hamilton, the Jeffersonians have launched a newspaper, the "National Gazette." The paper's assaults on Hamilton are often personal, attacking his pedigree by invoking his history as an illegitimate immigrant. - He didn't have an important family. He married into one, but still, he kind of came from nowhere. In the 18th century, they would have called him a mushroom gentleman, meaning they sort of sprouted up out of nowhere. - He wasn't quite one of us, which was a constant theme in the Jeffersonian press. narrator: The most persistent and destructive attack Hamilton faces, is the claim that he secretly supports a monarchy. - Since we had fought a revolution against concentrated executive power, Hamilton, with his large Treasury Department immediately became the object of all of the suspicions that had formerly been projected on to George III and the British. - Being called a monarchist in the 1790s was the equivalent of being called a Communist in the 1950s. narrator: Predictably, Hamilton responds in print, using sympathetic newspapers to publish his essays. - "Mr. Jefferson shall not for the first time "be regarded as the intriguing incendiary, the aspiring, turbulent competitor." - Hamilton is very forthright. He's always gonna tell you what's on his mind, and he'll tell you in 100,000 words, if necessary. narrator: As these two emerging political parties engage in a vicious war of words, Hamilton still has a powerful ally in his corner, President Washington. - All of those issues that the Jeffersonians found so repulsive, Washington agreed with Hamilton on all of them. - And Jefferson never got this, and he endlessly tried to convince Washington that Hamilton was cooking up a kingship. Washington's temper started to rise, and he said, "I am the last person in the world who would tolerate an American king." narrator: Washington tries to convince both men to end the fighting between the two parties for the good of the country. - He writes an almost identical letter to each man, in which he says, essentially, if they don't stop, they will, "Tear the union asunder." narrator: In the months ahead, President Washington and his cabinet will confront a new challenge to the nation's survival, when a threat from abroad deepens the divide between political rivals, and once again, Alexander Hamilton will be in the center of the skirmish. narrator: Just 15 years after America declared its independence, bitter and divisive politics have splintered our founding fathers into two parties: Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton leads the Federalists pushing for centralized government, while the Republicans, led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, champion states' rights over federal supremacy. By 1793, the infighting has reached a critical stage. - You had people really believing that the nation was coming to a crisis, and one or the other of them had to be eliminated for things to be able to continue on. narrator: In George Washington's second term as president, the rift between the two factions only deepens with news from abroad of the French Revolution. - At first, everyone thought it was a good thing, but then it became clear that the French Revolution was becoming a very different thing than the American Revolution had been. More turbulent, more violent, with massacres happening again and again, until finally it became a system of oppression known as the Reign of Terror. narrator: Now France and England are at war. Washington and his cabinet members must decide if they should support their former ally, France, against their former monarch. - The treaties between the U.S. and France are not annulled by these changes. - Hamilton and the Federalists are very wary of having any connection with France. Jefferson and the Republicans are much more willing to go along with the French as allies, to help them promote what they see as the spark of liberty that the United States launched with the Revolution. - It was necessary-- narrator: Jefferson feels it is their moral obligation to help France, as the French once helped the colonists against the British, but Hamilton argues that the country cannot afford another war so soon after the American Revolution. - The time will come when it will have been a disgrace to have advocated for revolution in France. narrator: Washington makes his decision after hearing both arguments. The United States will remain neutral in the war. - George Washington's goal as Europe slips into war is to keep the United States out of it. He knows we're a small country. We're a new country. If we were to get sucked into such a thing, it could pull us apart. narrator: Jefferson perceives Washington's caution as evidence that the President is siding with Hamilton, a viewpoint that's openly expressed in the Republican newspapers. - They would argue that Washington, who at this point is a man in his 60s, was somewhat doddering, and he had this conniving Treasury Secretary who's whispering in his ear. None of this is true. Nobody controlled George Washington throughout his entire life, but this was the way that the Jeffersonians sort of got around the issue of, "How do you attack the Washington administration without attacking George Washington?" narrator: Jefferson becomes so frustrated that he resigns from the cabinet, but his role as Hamilton's political rival is far from over. Over the next year, Hamilton continues his work building the nation's economic foundation, but his own economic situation suffers for his public service. In December, 1794, Hamilton resigns from his cabinet post, telling President Washington he must return home to New York to earn a better income and provide for his wife, Eliza, and their five children. - Despite the Jeffersonian accusation that he had been lining his pockets as Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton retires from politics primarily due to the need to make some money. narrator: As a civilian, Hamilton rebuilds his successful law practice, but over the next two years, he remains in regular communication with President Washington, who often seeks his council. In 1796, as Washington's second term comes to an end, he once again turns to his trusted friend. - When Washington decides, "I'm not going to stand for a third term," he wants to write a farewell address to the nation, explaining what he has done and what his advice to the country is. He writes a draft himself. He sends it to Hamilton. Hamilton edits it very carefully. - Professionally, politically, the relationship with Washington was unquestionably the most important of Hamilton's life. Washington had felt betrayed by a great many people politically, most notably Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The one person who never let him down was Alexander Hamilton. narrator: As Washington prepares to leave office, the nation faces its first contested election, and none other than Thomas Jefferson emerges as the Republican candidate. Alexander Hamilton will be right in the fray, until a shocking scandal threatens to unravel everything he's worked for. - I did not have sexual relations with that woman. narrator: In modern politics, nothing derails a career more easily than a public sex scandal. - I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family. - I am completely responsible. - I made the mistake. - I have decided the right course of action is to resign. narrator: But sex scandals in American politics are nothing new. They first began in the days of Alexander Hamilton. 1796, in the six years Hamilton served in the government, building his political power and influence, he attacked his opponents with near impunity. - Alexander Hamilton was somebody who had an uncanny knack for making enemies. - He was so extreme in his politics. This is a period of really dirty, nasty partisan politics, and Hamilton was right in the middle of the fray. narrator: Outspoken and defiant, Hamilton's always had the luxury of a powerful ally. - There was a sense that Washington spread a protective shield around Alexander Hamilton. And it was a terrible problem for Madison and Jefferson and their followers to know that in attacking Hamilton, you were implicitly attacking George Washington. narrator: But in 1796, Washington declines a third term, sparking the nation's first contested election. Naturally, Hamilton opposes the Republican candidates, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. But the Federalist Party candidate, John Adams, is no friend either. - There's serious bad blood between these two, and it's hard to track it absolutely to its source. But one of the things that Hamilton didn't appreciate was the way that Adams looked down on Hamilton, practically from the beginning, as an upstart, and called him, "The bastard brat of a Scottish peddler." - The Federalist Party was splintering, and there were some people who supported John Adams, and there were some people who supported Hamilton. narrator: Although he would have been eligible under the Constitution, Hamilton chooses not to run against Adams as the Federalist candidate, and John Adams goes on to become the second president of the United States. But many believe Hamilton's decision may have been made under duress. - There is a theory that when Hamilton, in 1796, was contemplating running for President, that he was warned by the Jeffersonians that, if he did that, they would reveal the Reynolds scandal. narrator: Six months after the election, in June, 1797, a pamphlet that circulated publicly accuses Hamilton of corruption, claiming he had funneled Treasury Department funds to a businessman named James Reynolds, who had been caught defrauding the government. - The allegation was that Hamilton, while Treasury Secretary, had been secretly and illicitly speculating with Mr. James Reynolds. narrator: The claim directly attacks Hamilton's political integrity, but his explanation is even more shocking. Hamilton admits that he gave his own money to Reynolds, but not for personal gain. He made the payments because he was having an affair with Reynolds' wife, Maria. - Hamilton was forced to come out saying that he was being blackmailed, not because of anything illegal or untoward that he had done in his position as treasurer, but something untoward he had done in his position as husband. - It was obviously an enormous betrayal of his utterly loyal, devoted wife. narrator: The affair began in 1791, while Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury, and lasted for nearly a year. - Mr. Secretary. Mr. Secretary. narrator: Shortly after it began, Reynolds blackmailed Hamilton, threatening to go public with the scandal. - One day at the Treasury office, he receives a call from James Reynolds himself. Who says, basically, that he needs some serious money now. - How much? - It was around the equivalent of a year's pay. And this, of course, knocks the breath out of him, but he has no choice. He has to pay it. - Of course, as blackmail happens, it never stops. narrator: Hamilton continued to pay out, but letters detailing the affair made their way to his political rivals, who held onto them to be used at an opportune moment. - I think it's not coincidental that the Reynolds scandal was not revealed while Washington was President. Hamilton was much more vulnerable when he was no longer operating under Washington's guidance. narrator: When the story does come out, Hamilton feels compelled to publish his own pamphlet, defending himself in explicit detail. - Hamilton felt that to preserve his political reputation, that he had to, and was willing to, sacrifice his personal reputation. - What he was trying to do was to control the narrative. He was trying to get ahead of the story, which is something that, you know, media consultants and PR people do all the time now. He realized that he was done politically, and he would never hold higher elective office. And he knew the damage that was going to come to his family, and he saw the only way out, which was to write, and that's what he always did. - "My real crime is an amorous connection with his wife, for a considerable time with his privity." - Hamilton is a very strange example in history of someone of extraordinary brilliance, but who was also capable, at times, of the most atrocious judgment. One can only imagine how horrified Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and the children were to read these admissions. He goes into the sexual affair in excruciating detail. He says, for instance, "The variety of shapes which this woman could assume was endless." - Eliza Schuyler Hamilton stayed by his side. She was the first of the many women who have stood behind their wayward husbands. narrator: Hamilton receives another gesture of support from a welcome source. - In the middle of all of this embarrassment and national disgrace, there is one man who comes through for him in a most remarkable way, and that's George Washington. - After the Reynolds scandal, Washington sent both Alexander and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton a beautiful silver wine cooler with a note that said, "Not for any intrinsic value that the thing has, but as a token of remembrance and regard," signed, G. Washington. narrator: But the gesture alone can't resurrect Alexander Hamilton's public career. [gunfire] It would take a new crisis from across the Atlantic to put him in the game again. narrator: 1798, the three years since Alexander Hamilton resigned as our nation's first Secretary of the Treasury have been tumultuous ones. His extramarital affair, and the blackmail that followed, have put him at the center of America's first political sex scandal, all but destroying his reputation. - Through his work in the Treasury, he was the greatest of great men, and then life turned for him. narrator: But if revolution is what first brought Hamilton into prominence, it will also be the catalyst for his return to public life. [indistinct shouting] Napoleon Bonaparte has seized power in the wake of the bloody French Revolution. His army and navy have conquered countries across Europe, and now he orders French ships to seize American vessels carrying British goods. The United States, still a very young country and without a standing military, is vulnerable to attack. - We feared we might be invaded, so George Washington was called out of retirement. He was asked to be commander in chief one more time. He said, "I want my second-in-command to be Alexander Hamilton," and with some resistance, President John Adams agreed to that. - Here you had two of John Adams' opponents being given, in a sense, de facto command of the American military. narrator: Over the next year and a half, Hamilton and Washington diligently build up the U.S. Army, preparing them for battle. - Hamilton took his task seriously. He had to get this under-equipped, under-manned American military up to speed, and he did so with his usual remarkable efficiency. narrator: But it would be the last time the two work together. On December 14, 1799, our nation's first president, George Washington, dies of a throat infection at the age of 67. For Hamilton, it's a deeply emotional loss. - Hamilton sent a very touching and very revealing letter to Martha Washington after George Washington died. Hamilton wrote that Washington was, "an aegis most essential to me,' an aegis being a shield most essential to him. - Morning. narrator: From the time they met when Hamilton was an orphaned 21-year-old soldier, Washington was a father figure, mentoring Hamilton and helping him rise in the army and then in the government. - Hamilton recognized that Washington was the protection, that enabled him to create this marvelous commercial nation, that was already on its way by this time. - It was Washington who plucked him out of obscurity and made him aide-de-camp during the war, and then it's Washington who made him the most powerful person in the government. So Hamilton, for all his brilliance, was a creation of George Washington. narrator: Without Washington as his buffer, Hamilton loses his leverage, as he butts heads with President Adams over how to handle the Napoleonic threat. While Hamilton is pushing to prepare for a military engagement with the French, Adams changes course. - He sends a secret peace mission to Paris, and an agreement is worked out and the war threat subsides. narrator: Hamilton is not consulted on the peace treaty, and he's ordered to disband the army once it's signed. - John Adams hated Alexander Hamilton with a deep and abiding passion, and so I do think that that mission to Paris was partly a way of pulling the rug out from under Hamilton. - And Adams became very abusive in his comments about Hamilton. He said that, "Alexander Hamilton was the greatest intriguer in the world," and so it really led to this terrible feud. narrator: A few months later, in the fall of 1800, John Adams runs for a second term as president. - Hamilton really, really did not want John Adams to be the person who won that campaign. He didn't like Adams. Adams did not like him. So Hamilton wrote a letter attacking John Adams right before the presidential election. Attacking his own party's candidate. - "My position resulted from the disgusting egotism, "the distempered jealousy, "and the ungovernable indiscretion of Mr. Adams' temper." narrator: The letter, describing Adam's many perceived faults, is supposed to remain private amongst Federalists, but it is quickly leaked to the press. - This is where Washington was so critical to Hamilton. If Washington were alive, I'm convinced that Hamilton never would have written that letter. - Now, Washington is gone, and one thing that also seems to go is Hamilton's judgment. He starts making mistakes, political miscalculations of a kind that he hasn't made before. That directing force, that directing hand, is gone from his shoulder. narrator: Hamilton succeeds in undermining Adams' campaign, but in doing so, torpedoes his own support within the party. - That convinces a lot of Federalists that, as one person put it at the time, "Hamilton is not a person who has discretion," and thus is not to be trusted as the head of any kind of political organization. - His own friends were appalled that Hamilton had taken that step. narrator: Hamilton's maneuvering does more than ruin Adams' chances for reelection. It takes down the party as well. - The Federalists were never a powerful national party again after that point. That was sort of the last gasp of the Federalist party on the national stage in 1800. narrator: Most of the votes for president are cast for two longtime foes of Hamilton's, Republican Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Burr and Hamilton have butted heads since their days as young lawyers in New York, and Burr's decision in 1792 to side with the Republicans in the Senate angered Hamilton further. - I think the problem for Hamilton is that he thinks that Burr doesn't believe in anything. The founding fathers were obsessed with theory. They were setting up a country, and they wanted to make sure it would work right. Aaron Burr was not concerned with any of that. - What he really was interested in was Aaron Burr. Whatever position you could take to get to the next rung, he would take that position. Why not? To somebody like Hamilton, who had deep seated feelings, to have somebody go in this sort of blithe, willowy-wispy kind of way through life, was maddening. And to see him succeed was even worse. narrator: With the presidential votes cast, Burr succeeds in tying the electoral college vote with Jefferson. - Under the constitution, ties are resolved by the House of Representatives. So the election of 1800 is one of the great, screwed up elections in American history because of this deadlock in the electoral college, which sends it to the House. narrator: Since both candidates are Republicans, the Federalists in Congress need to decide which one to back. - Many Federalists think, "Why don't we try "and throw the election to Aaron Burr? "We've been hating Jefferson all these years. "Burr is not Jefferson. Maybe Burr'll be better." And so this is a thought that blooms in some Federalist heads. - This posed a real dilemma for Hamilton, because he had been a political foe of both Jefferson and Burr, and he was suddenly forced to choose between them, in terms of advising these Federalist congressmen how to vote. And he said that he would rather have Jefferson, who had the wrong principles, than Burr, who had no principles. narrator: Hamilton helps end the deadlock by urging his political allies not to support Burr, and on the 36th round of voting, Thomas Jefferson is elected the third President of the United States. Aaron Burr becomes Vice President, but his ambition isn't satisfied, and his war of words with Alexander Hamilton will eventually turn violent. - Ready. - Senator. - Senator. narrator: In modern America, political careers live or die in a relentless 24-hour news cycle. - Some new revelations tonight-- - New developments-- - New video has emerged-- - Breaking news-- - Breaking news-- - Breaking news-- - Being in a political position these days is very much a contact sport. You're going to be exposed to constant attacks on your integrity and personal life. - Don't mess with our kids. Don't mess with my kids. - Lies, deceit, viciousness-- disgusting reporters. - There are countless journalistic outlets, that are constantly ferreting out facts and truths, and in the age of digital media and social media, the amplification of those facts and truths, when they are uncovered, is ten-fold, a million-fold. narrator: It's a far cry from the print newspaper culture our founding fathers lived in more than 200 years ago, yet the idea of using the media to wage political warfare is very much the same. - The express purpose of pretty much every newspaper during Alexander Hamilton's day was as a political organ to make a political point. And there really was nobody better at doing that than Hamilton himself. narrator: 1801, Republican Thomas Jefferson is sworn in as the third President of the United States, thanks in no small part to Alexander Hamilton, who helped sway deadlocked voters against his adversary, Aaron Burr. But for Hamilton, it's hardly a victory. Jefferson and he disagree about states' rights, and about the role of America in the changing European landscape. No longer in a position of power, Hamilton is still determined for his Federalist voice to be heard, so he starts a newspaper, the "New York Evening Post," known today as the "New York Post." - Hamilton founds the "New York Evening Post," because Thomas Jefferson is now President. All the people he's been fighting with and who've been criticizing him for years are now running the country. So Hamilton does a very Hamiltonian thing, which is to continue the warfare in journalism. - "The message of the President ought to alarm "all who are anxious for the safety "of our government, for the respectability and welfare of our nation." - The "Post" was founded, really, to try to resuscitate and reinvigorate a rather moribund Federalist party. narrator: The Republicans fire back through Jeffersonian newspapers like the "National Intelligencer," and Aaron Burr joins the fight by forming the "Morning Chronicle." - It was a lot of mudslinging and a lot of ribald accusations. And we think it's worse today, but in many ways you can make an argument that, at the time, certainly in the early republic, there was this tremendous threat of violence that was--that was hanging over everything. Right, I mean, duels were not uncommon. narrator: In fact, political violence fuels one of the "Post's" first big headlines. - The "Post" started publishing in November, 1801, and a few weeks later, the biggest story in town was actually the duel of Philip Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton's son. - Father. - Philip Hamilton was 19 years old. He'd gotten in a political argument with some Republicans about his father, Alexander. narrator: A Republican named George Eacker insults Alexander Hamilton in a speech. Philip confronts him about it, and they clash. - Philip was doing, I think, what a lot of young men would have felt compelled to do for their fathers. And Philip, unfortunately, had a father who had a lot of people saying bad things about him, so, you know, he had better odds than most that he might get stuck in a situation like this. narrator: The altercation launches an affair of honor. - An affair of honor, in this time period, would have been a case in which one gentleman insulted another gentleman, and the insulted man decided to take action. Duels were about proving that you were willing to die for your honor. It wasn't about killing, and more often than not nobody was killed. More often than not, they exchanged shots, they shook hands, and that was that. Most of the time, these matters would be negotiated, and there be no duel. narrator: Alexander Hamilton himself had been involved in ten affairs of honor over the years, and none of them had even reached the dueling ground. - Philip went home to talk to his father about what to do. Now, Hamilton actually counseled Philip and said, "Okay, he grabbed you by the lapels, "which means he physically accosted you, "which means you can't turn your back on it. "So you actually need to confront this and deal with it." - Alexander told him that because he was a gentleman, he had to go through with this. But as a Christian, he couldn't kill another man, so he ought to waste his first shot. - He said, "If there were a duel, "you'd want to shoot in the air, or shoot away from him, or something." I think he assumed that here, as in every other case in his life, this would be negotiated through and settled without any kind of gunfire. narrator: On November 23, 1801, Philip Hamilton and George Eacker meet at a field in New Jersey. - Ready. [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ Present. [gunfire] narrator: Philip is shot just above the right hip, the bullet piercing through and then lodging in his left arm. Hours later, the teenager dies from an infection in the wound. For 46-year-old Alexander Hamilton and his family, the pain is beyond measure. - You are a gentleman. You have to follow through. You must reserve your shot. - It was horrible enough that he lost his oldest son in this duel. The fact that the duel was fought in his name, I can't even imagine how you cope with that idea. - One of his closest friends said that after Philip's death, Hamilton's face was strongly stamped with grief. And you can actually see in paintings of Hamilton, it looked like he aged ten years in one year. He said that, "As we get older, the shadows thicken around us," and they certainly had thickened after Philip's death. narrator: Grief stricken, Alexander Hamilton has no idea that tragic fate will place him in the same situation. - Ready. [gunfire] - Ready. narrator: After the tragic death of his teenage son in 1801, a devastated Alexander Hamilton retreats from politics and public life. - He's a man who wasn't silent for long periods of time, and there's a big silence in his correspondence. He just checks out. - He succumbed to a kind of grief that definitely dimmed his energy and his prospects. narrator: But in 1804, 49-year-old Hamilton is compelled to return to the public arena, when his old foe Aaron Burr makes another play for public office. Four years earlier, Burr lost the presidency to Thomas Jefferson, thanks in part to Hamilton's behind-the-scenes maneuvering against him. Now he's returning to New York to run for office. - In 1804, Burr's running for governor of New York, and Hamilton does what Hamilton does, which is he steps up and basically tries to oppose Burr's bid for office yet again. - Hamilton says, "I take it upon myself as a religious duty to oppose this man." That's deep-seated. That's forever, and by God, he sticks to it. narrator: As Burr campaigns, Hamilton speaks out against him amongst friends, but a man who attends one of these private political dinners writes a letter about the event that gets printed in a newspaper. - The letter says, "Boy, you should have heard "what Hamilton said about Burr at this dinner the other night. "He said that he was unfit to hold the reins of government, and he said some other more despicable things." narrator: Burr loses his bid for governor, and points a finger directly at Hamilton. - Ultimately, Burr decides he's had it. That they need a duel just to clear the air, and for him to redeem his reputation. So he basically asks Hamilton to apologize for everything that he's said against Burr throughout their political career, which, of course, Hamilton can't do. And from that point on, now they're actually negotiating a duel. - Honor, to these men, was everything. It was their masculinity. It was their valor. It was their lineage. It was everything good that they had ever done, everything good that they hoped to do. And so if someone challenged their honor, they had to defend their honor. narrator: Over the course of his fiery life in politics, Hamilton has been involved in ten such affairs of honor before, but this is the first time it's actually escalated to the dueling ground. - Hamilton felt that his utility as a politician and as an officer would be weakened, if he ignored Burr's challenge to a duel. - He can't back away, and he can't apologize for saying things that he believes are true about Burr. narrator: Three years ago, Hamilton urged his son Philip to accept a dueling challenge to uphold his honor. Now, this same code of honor forces Hamilton's hand. - The guns that Hamilton chose to use actually end up being the same guns that were used in Philip's duel. narrator: July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr row across the Hudson River to a secluded dueling ground in Weehawken, New Jersey. Just as he advised his son, Hamilton has no intention of taking aim. - He decided that by facing Burr, he would show his courage. By wasting his shot, firing into the air, he would show his opposition to dueling. So that was the strange compromise that he crafted. narrator: The bitter adversaries take assigned positions and face each other. - Hamilton gambled on the fact that Burr would not shoot to kill. Hamilton knew that if Burr did shoot to kill, that Burr would be branded as a murderer, and it would ruin his career. - Ready. [dramatic music] Present. [gunfire] - There are two shots, and it's not absolutely clear what happens. Whatever Hamilton did or didn't do, Burr ended up hitting Hamilton, hit him in the abdomen, pierced his liver and lodged in his spine. narrator: In critical condition, Hamilton is brought home and dies the next day surrounded by his family. His wife, Eliza, reads a letter her husband had written for her. - "My Very Dear Eliza, I shall cherish the sweet hope "of meeting you in a better world. "Adieu, best of wives and best of women." narrator: As the shocking news spreads, church bells toll, shops close, and Hamilton's friends, family, and supporters mourn. In the aftermath, Aaron Burr is charged with murder in both New York and New Jersey, but eventually the charges against him lapse. - Duels were illegal in every state of the union, but they were never prosecuted, because no jury would convict. Dueling was something that gentlemen did. It was a system outside the law and against the law, but it was something that everybody accepted. narrator: Still, Burr never escapes his reputation as the man who killed Hamilton. In his adopted home of New York City, Alexander Hamilton is laid to rest at Trinity Church, where his tombstone still stands today, just blocks from the financial capital he imagined, in a country he helped shape. - The best way to look at Alexander Hamilton's legacy is to go on the cliff where he was shot and look across the Hudson at Manhattan. It's one of the great world cities. If Hamilton could see that, he would say, "This is what I longed for. This is the kind of thing I hoped to build, now use it." - Alexander Hamilton was a confrontational, aggressive, controversial man who had an enormous impact on the young republic and ultimately raised himself to power and destroyed himself in the process of that fight. - He almost uniquely recognized that America was gonna be a great nation one day, and sooner than people expected. - Hamilton had wanted a strong federal government, and that we definitely have. He wanted America to be a sophisticated financial power, and that we surely are. In many ways, we have become the nation Hamilton envisioned.

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Channel: HISTORY

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Keywords: history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, hamilton, history full episodes, full episodes, hamilton full episode, lin manuel miranda, hamilton broadway, founding fathers, revolutionary war, american history, aaron burr, george washington, alexander hamilton, hamilton disney plus, watch hamilton full episodes, watch hamilton, watch history full episodes, hamilton full episodes, Building America, Alexander Hamilton, watch hamilton buliding america

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Length: 84min 31sec (5071 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 27 2020