James Jackson did not sign the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. But his heroism in the War of Independence and his exemplary integrity and republican statesmanship in the first days of the U.S. government entitle him to rank with the great men of the founding generation.
Jackson is a fine example of what that generation and several subsequent generations of Americans regarded as republican virtue. Virtue in this connection did not refer to private morals. It referred to the type of character deemed necessary to preserve liberty, a thing of great value to the community and the individual. It had a masculine Roman cast, which is why we have capitol buildings and statues of George Washington in a toga.
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Great research into the founding of the USA. Important history.
ReplyDeleteA great site.
DeleteOnce again I would state that if not for Hamilton's efforts in bringing about the Annapolis convention and the Philadelphia convention we VB would not have our precious Constitution. Nor without his financial and political skills the new nation would have fractured into compatible regions and fallen victim to Spanish,French and British predations along our all but undefended frontiers. Madison's allowing the charter of the Bank of the United States to expire left the still fledgling government with both limited resources and poor means to manage what it did have in raising the Army and Navy it needed to defend itself in the War of 1812. A war we could have easily lost.
DeleteIt should also be noted that there is no real comparison between the Bank of The United States and our current Federal Reserve. The Charter of Hamilton's bank called for 1/3 ownership by the government along with unfettered Congressional access to it books and regular public audits. In short plenty of avenues for control and monitoring of it's operations. In contrast to today's Federal Reserve which is entirely privately owned (mostly by foreign banks), H ad no expiration date on its charter and bristles at the mention of an audit of how they operate and handle the public's monies. US currency issued under the auspices of Hamilton's system was backed by both Specie (gold and silver) and bonds issued against the Revolutionary war debt that now traded at as much as 115% to 120% of face value. Our current Federal Reserve notes are backed by nothing but the banks ability to create more and more debt.
By giving us a unified monetary system he gave us a unified nation to face a world universally hostile to the concept of its existence.
Was Hamilton or his system perfect? No. But then no system devised by man is immune from corruption and graft. Wilson sold us down this path to destruction. Federal income taxes, the Federal Reserve Bank, the destruction of state representation in the Senate, prohibition and the birth of Bearnaiseian propaganda has burdened the nation and indeed the world for over a century now. Would that we had someone of Hamiltonian wisdom today in the face of $20 Trillion on debt and a foreign invasion.
Thank you and informative.
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