As Washington’s Treasury Secretary he launched the new nation on the road to financial and commercial growth and expansion. As author of most of the Federalist Papers, he persuaded his countrymen of the need for a strong central government and a powerful chief executive. Theodore Roosevelt called him “the most brilliant American statesman who ever lived, possessing the loftiest and keenest intellect of his time.” 1 He was, wrote biographer Ron Chernow, “at once a thinker and doer, sparkling theoretician and masterful executive.” 2 George Washington found him indispensable as a military aide during the War of Independence and as an advisor during his two terms as president. Respectively, their visions and ideas provided the intellectual foundations for the 13 original American states to expand into a continental empire in the nineteenth century, and for that continental empire to emerge as a global superpower in the twentieth century.Īlexander Hamilton rose to positions of prominence and influence by sheer force of intellect and remarkable administrative skills. Military Academy at West Point, fought in the American Civil War, wrote brilliant articles and books about naval history and strategy, advised the president of the United States, and rose to the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. The other was born on the grounds of the U.S. One proponent was an illegitimate child born on an island in the Caribbean Sea who came to the American colonies, fought in the War of Independence, wrote insightful and influential articles about the structure of the new United States government, financial institutions, and commercial industries, advised the president of the United States, and rose to the high office of Treasury Secretary. Each phase of empire began with an idea championed by brilliant, articulate, and persuasive proponents. The second phase began around the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898 and continues to this day. The first phase began immediately after the War of Independence and lasted until the late nineteenth century. What some today call the “American Empire” emerged gradually and in two separate phases. In fact, it is as old as the Republic itself. The idea of an American “empire” is not new to the twenty-first century. This essay explores how Hamilton’s ideas guided the nation toward dominance in North America, and how Mahan helped inspire its emergence as a global power in the twentieth century. SempaĪmong the thinkers who have most profoundly influenced American foreign policy, few are as important as Alexander Hamilton and Alfred Thayer Mahan. Alexander Hamilton and Alfred Thayer Mahan by Francis P.
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