Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today at Stone Arch Bridge to commemorate the life of our founding father Alexander Hamilton. Even today, this great man’s ideas hold relevance as a living ideology to help solve our government’s problems. “Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything.” This is the most famous saying of Hamilton’s basically meaning to pick a side and fight for it, be dedicated to your causes and don’t be flippant about your opinion. This seemed to be his motto, standing by his Federalist opinions while he was in the continental congress from 1782-1783 and our nation’s first treasurer from 1789-1795; with a small emphasis on the middle class, and holding our upper-class citizens to be wiser and more supreme and therefore the decision-makers in society. Hamilton, much like the presidential candidate Ron Paul was a constitutionalist as well as a Federalist meaning that he supported the idea of referencing the powers of the constitution when sorting out government issues such as the expansion of government. As a Federalist, Hamilton stood by the idea of a larger government that would be able to stay in power unlike the government of the articles; he was not afraid to stand up for what he thought and was the only New York representative to sign the constitution, instating a larger form of government.
Alexander Hamilton was not only a direct man, but he was a responsible man in serving as our first national treasurer. Alexander often said, “A national debt, if not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.” Meaning, it’s good to borrow money responsibly from our allies and build credit with them showing we are a responsible nation who can be trusted with money. Excessive debt that cannot be paid shows the world we are an irresponsible nation that cannot be trusted with borrowing money. Hamilton, having founded the first national bank, would think our national debt today is beyond excessive. To solve this problem, Hamilton would be strongly inclined to start immediate action towards solving the problem as quickly as possible by raising taxes on everyone rather than cutting government programs he felt were important, because they make decisions for the middle class he felt couldn’t make decisions on their own.
Reasonability is a quality found in only the best of us, a quality I can assure you Hamilton possessed. “I never expect to see perfect work from an imperfect man.” Hamilton would say, not setting the expectations low by any means, but being reasonable in not expecting too much of anyone. This quote corresponds greatly with his views that the rich class was wise and should lead our nation while the lower class could not be trusted with their passions, possibly endorsing large government programs such as the patient protection and affordable care act that would decrease the decision making of the lower class. Hamilton was a man of success, anything he did he tried his hardest and put in maximum effort giving him a long list of accomplishments. He founded the Revenue Cutter Service, a tax collection bureau that would eventually become the U.S. Coast Guard, which included a guidebook he created that was used up till 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Hamilton also founded the Bank of New York, America’s oldest continuous banking organization; about seven years later he founded the New-York Evening Post, now known as the New York Post.
Open-mindedness is something required for a government to function. “Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.” This means we should consider the opinions and ideas of all sides without bias. Hamilton would have frowned upon the idea of opposing patient protection and affordable care act for the sole reason that the bill was encouraged to be passed by Obama and is commonly known as ObamaCare. This idea of open-mindedness would help us come to more quick decisions bipartisanly and help us to eliminate some aspects of partisan politics that our first president, George Washington, warned us about in his farewell address by causing our politicians to think for what makes sense to them rather than just following their party platform.
Alexander Hamilton was an honest man who stood up for what he believed in and tried to be as responsible and unbiased as any man could. It is these qualities put together that I feel made him as accomplished as he was by the end of his lifetime. Furthermore, I dedicate this monument to our great founding father Alexander Hamilton.
