On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 12:19:11 -0700 (PDT), Gautam Mukunda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > My understanding (and I could be wrong on this) is > > that he would have > > liked to have freed his slaves, but he had debts, > > and his debtors would > > have had the rights to them had he tried to free > > them. Or, at least he > > wanted to free some of them. Were some of them > > emancipated upon his > > death? > > > > Julia > > A few of them were, but most were not. It's worth > noting, though, that his debts were largely the > consequence of an extravagent lifestyle, not hardships > he undertook in the Revolution or anything like that. > Basically the man didn't know how to keep to a budget > and never cared about the hardships that this imposed > upon his slaves. He said that he wanted to free them, > certainly. But he didn't, while some of his > contemporaries (Washington, for example) did. > > I have a fairly jaundiced view of Jefferson, I'll > admit - I'm very much a Hamilton fan (I'm halfway > through Ron Chernow's new Hamilton biography, which > already rates as the best book I've read this year by > a lot).
I have had a similar prejudiced view of Hamilton, considering his advocacy of a too strong executive branch and his personal flaws of arrogance, bad temper, and poor judgment. I can't really support someone who opposed the Bill of Rights. And like most politicians it seems he had his own sex scandal - although he honestly admitted to it. I find it interesting that the strong-central-government financier Hamilton seems to more inspire the GOP and the weak-government Southerner Jefferson inspires Democrats. And that since the early 80's a wave has been rising in favor of the first Secretary of the Treasury among conservative and neoconservative scholars. Was L. Neil Smith right about an elitist group of anti-libertarian Hamiltonians bent on political power? Gary Denton -- Probability Broach Maru #1 on google for liberal news _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
